CENSORSHIP OF FILMS ACT, 1923

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE OFFICIAL CENSORING OF CINEMATOGRAPH PICTURES AND FOR OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH. [16th July, 1923.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTAT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Establishment of office of Official Censor of Films.

1.—(1) There shall be established the office of Official Censor of Films.

• (2) The Official Censor of Films shall be a corporation sole under that name with perpetual succession and an official seal, and may sue and be sued under that name.

2 Appointment of Official Censor.

2.—(1) The Minister shall as soon as may be after the passing of this Act and thereafter as occasion arises, appoint a fit person to the office of Official Censor, who shall hold office for such time and on such terms as the Minister shall, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, appoint.

• (2) Every person appointed to be Official Censor under this Act shall receive such salary or fees as the Minister for Finance shall determine.

• (3) Whenever the Official Censor is temporarily unable to attend to his duties, or his office is vacant, the Minister may appoint a fit person to perform the duties of the Official Censor under this Act, during such inability or vacancy, and every person so appointed shall during his appointment have all the powers of the Official Censor under this Act, and shall receive such remuneration, out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas, as the Minister shall, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, direct.

3 Establishment of Censorship of Films Appeal Board.

3.—(1) There shall be established a Censorship of Films Appeal Board consisting of nine Commissioners of whom one shall be Chairman.

• (2) The members of the Appeal Board shall hold office for five years from the date of their appointment and shall, at the end of any such term of office, be eligible for re-appointment.

• (3) The Minister shall as soon as may be after the passing of this Act and thereafter as occasion arises appoint fit persons to be members of the Appeal Board.

• (4) Whenever any vacancy shall occur in the membership of the Appeal Board by reason of the death, becoming disqualified or resignation of a member before the expiration of his term of office, the Minister shall appoint a fit person to fill such vacancy, but the person so appointed shall hold office only for the residue of the term of office of the member whose death, becoming disqualified or resignation occasioned such vacancy.

• (5) The Minister shall from time to time as occasion arises nominate one of the members of the Appeal Board to be Chairman thereof.

• (6) Four members of the Appeal Board personally present shall form a quorum for the hearing of appeals, and the decision of the majority of the members present shall be the decision of the Appeal Board, save that whenever such majority is less than four, or the members present are equally divided, the appeal shall be re-heard in the presence of not less than seven members of the Appeal Board, and the decision of the majority of the members present at such re-hearing shall be the decision of the Appeal Board, but if, on such re-hearing, the members present are equally divided, the decision of the Official Censor shall be affirmed.

• (7) The Appeal Board may act for all purposes notwithstanding the existence of not more than two vacancies in its membership.

• (8) A person shall be disqualified for being a member of the Appeal Board if he has, directly or indirectly, any share or interest in any Company or undertaking, having as its object or one of its objects the exhibition for profit of pictures by means of a cinematograph or similar apparatus, or the production of pictures capable of being so exhibited.

4 Appointment of officers of Official Censor and of Appeal Board.

4.—(1) The Minister shall appoint such persons to be officers of the Official Censor and of the Appeal Board respectively, as subject to the sanction of the Minister for Finance as to number, he may consider necessary for the purposes of this Act, and these officers shall hold office upon such terms and be remunerated at such rates and in such manner as the Minister for Finance may sanction.

• (2) The salaries or remuneration of the Official Censor and his officers and of the officers of the Appeal Board, and such other expenses of carrying this Act into effect as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

5 No picture to be exhibited in public without a certificate.

5.—(1) No picture shall be exhibited in public by means of a cinematograph or similar apparatus unless and until the Official Censor has certified that the whole of such picture is fit for exhibition in public.

• (2) Every person who exhibits in public by means of a cinematograph or similar apparatus any picture which, or any part of which, has not been certified by the Official Censor to be fit for exhibition in public, and every person who knowingly permits any cinematograph or other apparatus owned or hired by him to be used for the exhibition in public of any such picture as aforesaid, and every person who knowingly permits any building or any land in his possession or occupation to be used for the exhibition in public by any such means as aforesaid of any such picture as aforesaid, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £50, and in the case of a continuing offence to a further fine not exceeding £5 for each day on which the offence continues.

• (3) This Section shall come into operation at the expiration of six months from the passing of this Act, or at such earlier time as the Minister shall appoint.

6 Restrictions in certificate to be complied with.

6.—(1) No picture nor any part of a picture in respect of which the Official Censor has granted a limited certificate shall be exhibited in public by means of a cinematograph or similar apparatus at any place not authorised by such certificate or under any conditions inconsistent with the special conditions specified in such limited certificate or in the presence of any person who is not a member of the class in whose presence such picture is by such certificate authorised to be exhibited.

• (2) Every person who exhibits in public by means of a cinematograph or similar apparatus any picture or any part of a picture in respect of which a limited certificate has been granted by the Official Censor under this Act either at any place not authorised by such certificate or under any conditions inconsistent with the special conditions specified in such certificate or in the presence of any person who is not a member of the class in whose presence such picture is by such certificate authorised to be exhibited, and every person who knowingly permits any cinematograph or other apparatus owned or hired by him or any land in his possession or occupation to be used for such exhibition as aforesaid, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £50, and in the case of a continuing offence to a further fine not exceeding £5 for each day during which the offence continues.

• (3) This Section shall come into operation at the expiration of six months from the passing of this Act, or at such earlier time as the Minister shall appoint.

7 When certificate to be granted by Official Censor.

7.—(1) Every person desiring to exhibit in public by means of a cinematograph or similar apparatus any picture which has not been certified by the Official Censor to be fit for exhibition in public may apply to the Official Censor in the prescribed manner for a certificate that such picture is fit for exhibition in public.

• (2) Whenever any such application as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section is made to the Official Censor, he shall certify in the prescribed manner that the picture to which the application relates is fit for exhibition in public, unless he is of opinion that such picture or some part thereof is unfit for general exhibition in public by reason of its being indecent, obscene or blasphemous or because the exhibition thereof in public would tend to inculcate principles contrary to public morality or would be otherwise subversive of public morality.

• (3) If the Official Censor is of opinion that any picture in respect of which an application is made to him under this section is not fit for general exhibition in public but is fit for exhibition in public in certain places in Saorstát Eireann or under special conditions or in the presence of certain classes of persons, he shall grant a certificate that such picture is fit for exhibition in public subject to such restrictions and conditions (which shall be expressed on the certificate) in regard to the places at which or the special conditions under which the picture may be exhibited or the classes of persons who may be admitted to an exhibition of the picture as in the opinion of the Official Censor are necessary to prevent the exhibition of the picture in public being subversive of public morality.

• (4) Whenever the Official Censor is of opinion that part only of any picture in respect of which an application is made to him under this section is unfit for exhibition in public he shall indicate such part to the person making such application and thereupon such person may either (a) separate such part from the picture and surrender it to the Official Censor, who shall retain it in his possession and grant a certificate for the picture with the omission of such part, or (b) may regard the decision of the Official Censor as a refusal to grant a certificate and may appeal in the prescribed manner to the Appeal Board.

• (5) Whenever the Official Censor refuses to grant a certificate under this section he shall record such refusal in the prescribed manner.

8 Right of appeal to the Appeal Board.

8.—(1) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Official Censor refusing to grant a certificate under this Act or attaching any restrictions or conditions to such certificate may appeal in the prescribed manner from such decision to the Appeal Board, and on the hearing of such appeal the Appeal Board may affirm, reverse or vary the decision of the Official Censor.

• (2) When notice of an appeal under this section has been given the Official Censor shall furnish to the Appeal Board his reasons in writing for the decision appealed against, and shall furnish, on payment of the prescribed fees, copies of such reasons to every person who is entitled to appear and be heard at the hearing of such appeal.

• (3) The Appeal Board shall not have power to grant any certificate under this Act, but shall as soon as may be after the hearing of an appeal communicate its decision thereon to the Official Censor and thereupon the Official Censor shall grant or withhold a certificate in accordance with such decision.

• (4) The decision of the Appeal Board shall be final.

9 Meaning of exhibition of a picture.

9.—For the purposes of this Act the exhibition of a picture in respect of which a certificate has been granted by the Official Censor under this Act means the exhibition of such picture by means of a film produced, directly or indirectly, either from the negative from which the film by means of which such picture was exhibited to the Official Censor was produced or from a negative from which the first mentioned negative was itself, directly or indirectly, produced, and the exhibition of a picture by means of a film produced in any other manner shall not for the purposes of this Act be an exhibition of the picture in respect of which such certificate was given.

10 Amendment of the Cinematograph Act, 1909.

10.—(1) It shall not be lawful for the Council of any County, County Borough or Urban District, or for any Town Commissioners after the passing of this Act to attach to any licence granted under the Cinematograph Act, 1909, any condition or restriction as to the character or nature of the pictures to be exhibited in the premises to which such licence refers.

• (2) Every condition or restriction attached before the passing of this Act to a licence granted by the Council of a County, County Borough or Urban District or by any Town Commissioners under the Cinematograph Act, 1909, in relation to the character or nature of the pictures to be exhibited in the premises to which such licence refers, shall, as from the passing of this Act, be void and such licence shall have effect as if such conditions and restrictions were deleted therefrom on the date of the passing of this Act.

11 Fees to be charged by Official Censor and Appeal Board.

11.—(1) There shall be charged in respect of applications to the Official Censor, and the granting or refusal by him of certificates, and in respect of other acts done by him in the execution of his duties under this Act, such fees as the Minister, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, shall from time to time fix.

• (2) There shall also be charged, in respect of appeals to the Appeal Board, and in respect of acts done by the Appeal Board in the execution of its duties under this Act, such fees as the Minister, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, shall from time to time fix.

• (3) The fees to be charged under this section shall be arranged, from time to time, so as to produce as nearly as may be an annual sum sufficient to discharge the salaries and other expenses incidental to the working of this Act.

12 Minister may make regulations.

12.—(1) The Minister for Home Affairs may by order, from time to time, make, and when made vary and revoke regulations for carrying into effect the objects of this Act, and in particular for regulating the conduct of the office of the Official Censor, the making of applications to him, the granting of certificates by him, and the bringing of appeals to the Appeal Board.

• (2) Every regulation made by the Minister under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution is passed by each House of the Oireachtas within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which either House has sat annulling such regulation, such regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such regulation.

• (3) If any such regulation requires a declaration to be made for any purpose, a person who makes such declaration, knowing the same to be untrue in any material particular, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.

• (4) Regulations made under this section may require any person bringing an appeal to the Appeal Board to deposit a sum not exceeding £5, and that such deposit may be forfeited in the event of the appeal being unsuccessful.

13 Definitions.

13.—In this Act whenever the context so admits or requires the expression—

“Official Censor” means the Official Censor of Films appointed under this Act;

The expression “Appeal Board” means the Censorship of Films Appeal Board appointed under this Act;

The expression “limited certificate” means a certificate granted by the Official Censor under this Act containing a condition or restriction as to the places at which, or the special conditions under which or the persons before whom the picture to which such certificate relates may be exhibited, and the expression “general certificate” means any such certificate not containing any such condition or restriction;

The word “picture” includes any optical effect produced by means of a cinematograph or similar apparatus;

The expression “in public” means at any exhibition, show or entertainment to which the public are admitted, whether on payment or otherwise, and includes any exhibition, show or entertainment to which only a particular class of the public specified in a limited certificate are admitted;

The word “Minister” means the Minister for Home Affairs;

The word “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made under this Act.

14 Short Title.

14.—This Act may be cited as the Censorship of Films Act, 1923.