Russian Federation

[RU] New rules of film exhibition

IRIS 2016-5:1/29

Andrei Richter

Comenius University (Bratislava)

By a decree of 27 February 2016 the Government of Russia adopted “Rules on issuance, denial of issuance and reclaiming of an exhibition permit for a film”. The new rules supersede the current ones, which were issued in 1993.

The permit is obligatory for film exhibition in a cinema, for rental of films in hard copy, or for both exhibition and rental. The Ministry of Culture is the governmental office in charge of the process. Within ten working days of submission it reviews applications together with copies of a set of documents related to the applicant and the film itself (including starting date of its exhibition) and a proof of payment of the relevant fee. The permit necessarily carries the age ratings in accordance with the Federal Statute “On the Protection of Minors against Information Detrimental to their Health and Development” (see IRIS 2011-4/34 and IRIS 2012-8/36).

A permit will be denied if the application is for a film that already has an exclusive distributer with an application for a permit submitted earlier, if it contains materials that violate laws on terrorism and extremism. An application will also be denied if the film contains content that informs on the drug production, propagate pornography, cult of violence and cruelty, has subliminal messages, or swear words (see IRIS 2014-6/32), or which violate other provisions of the decree and federal statutes.

The Ministry continues to be in charge of conducting a “State Register of films with permits” which allows for an online search of a film in question (URL: http://mkrf.ru/registr/).

The decree enters into force three months after its official publication.


References

  • ПОСТАНОВЛЕНИЕ от 27 февраля 2016 г. N 143 - Об утверждении Правил выдачи, отказа в выдаче и отзыва прокатного удостоверения на фильм и Правил ведения Государственного регистра фильмов
  • http://pravo.gov.ru/laws/acts/15/495251.html

Related articles

IRIS 2014-6:1/32 [RU] Restrictions on exhibition of movies

IRIS 2012-8:1/36 [RU] New Rules for Internet

This article has been published in IRIS Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory.