Legco passes law to ban movies over national protection
Legco passes legislation to ban movies over national security
Lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill which allows authorities to ban movies that are “deemed to be contrary to your passions of nationwide security”, because they urged the government to extend the ban to online videos aswell.
Underneath the brand new legislation, authorities could pull movies which have recently been approved for assessment if they are regarded as glorifying or supporting acts which could endanger nationwide security.
Before endorsing the amendment to your film censorship ordinance, a few councillors said they desired the federal government to extend the legislation to cover not just movies to be screened in theatres, but in addition online videos.
But commerce minister Edward Yau insisted that such an extension calls for careful and comprehensive studies.
“We hope the bill will commence as soon as possible, to enhance the film censorship system and to plug the loopholes,” he told the council.
“If we are to add online regulation, it’d go beyond the original intent of the ordinance, not to mention the technological and enforcement considerations.”
Yau included the law modification will not affect the particular operations for the movie industry, saying officials think that most movies won’t have any such thing regarding nationwide protection.
He stated the sector can follow clear cut regulations and will not get across red lines in error.
Federation of Trade Unions lawmaker Michael Luk consented, saying additionally national security guidelines in the US yet “no one would complain that Hollywood is not free”.
“There are also bottom lines and red lines in the US. Nobody would make a film glorifying bin Laden, or terrorist groups, or Al-Qaeda,” Luk said.
Beneath the brand new law, the maximum charges for showing unapproved movies are raised from a year in prison and an excellent of HK$200,000 to 3 years in prison and an excellent of HK$1 million.
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