BBFC News

From 31 March 2016, the BBFC will delegate to the Cinema Advertising Association (CAA) the regulation of all cinema advertisements in the UK.

Following a Government consultation, the BBFC and the CAA agreed to end the dual regulation of advertisements shown in UK cinemas. Henceforth, the CAA will assess and classify all cinema advertisements. The BBFC retains its classification role in relation to trailers, public information films, campaigning films and all other theatrical works.

DCMS carried out a public consultation in May 2012 on the future regulation of cinema advertising. At the time, the BBFC and the CAA both classified cinema advertisements. The BBFC and the CAA argued in favour of removing this dual regulation and duplication of responsibility. As a result, the BBFC has stepped back from the day-to-day classification of cinema advertisements and sub-contracted responsibility for classifying such advertisements to the CAA.

In the event of there being any doubt as to whether a particular film should be considered an advertisement, the BBFC shall determine whether such film requires to be classified in accordance with its Classification Guidelines and will inform the CAA accordingly.

David Austin (OBE) is the new Chief Executive (CEO) of the British Board of Film Classification.

The position, previously referred to as the Director of the BBFC, is delegated to make executive decisions on behalf of the Board of Classification. The CEO is responsible for formulating and ensuring the execution of policy, management of the BBFC and handling external relations with the industry, the public and relevant bodies.

The title of Director is changing to CEO to better reflect the remit of the role and to be more consistent with other UK media regulators and organisations with a child protection role.

David Austin said:

The BBFC is a transparent and agile media regulator, working to reflect evolving public opinion, protect children from unsuitable content and develop, in partnership with industry, classification services that are up to date with digital technology. Changing the title of my role from Director to CEO reflects the evolution of the BBFC and the Director's role. As CEO I will continue to develop the BBFC's work in line with digital technology and in areas beyond film classification where our expertise in child protection and content regulation can be helpful.

David Austin joined the BBFC in 2003 as an Examiner following a career in the Diplomatic Service, serving in South Asia, Central Africa and the former Yugoslavia. In 2011 David moved to the role of Assistant Director Policy and Public Affairs where he coordinated the BBFC's policy work and led on its public affairs efforts. He was also responsible for managing the BBFC's research, communications and education programmes.

Since 2008 the BBFC has developed a new voluntary online regulation services for Video-on-Demand content, introduced a classification framework for mobile network operators, and launched an initiative to age rate UK online music videos. The BBFC continues to work to published Classification Guidelines based on large scale public consultation. The last Classification Guidelines consultation, in 2013, involved more than 10,000 members of the public from the across the UK. The process to update the Guidelines is repeated every 4-5 years and is supplemented with expert research into issues including depictions of sexual and sadistic violence and glamour works.

Apparently the BBFC's new Director, David Austin, is not only notable for being the first director appointed internally, but also the first to take up the post during an industrial dispute.

Unconfirmed third hand reports speak of BBFC managers getting rid of the examiners and replacing them with compliance officers, the kind they have at the Beeb and Sky etc. They get paid a lot less than the examiners, but then again they are also young, and inexperienced.

Existing examiners, with the collective knowledge and experience accumulated over years, are being made redundant unless they take a huge pay cut and take the compliancy jobs as well.

Joshua comments:

I don't know about everyone else but I actually value some of the work they do there, especially looking out for the protection of children, and shafting these people seems pretty damn short sighted to me.

Comment: Age ratings you trusted

11th March 2016. By phantom on the Melon farmers Forum

The BBFC's downgrading of staff should be welcome by any person concerned about censorship issues. For years the BBFC have claimed to possess nigh on mythical 'expertise' in matters of taste and decency in films. It should be interesting to see them publicly trying to continue these claims when they internally insist that such expertise does not exist among their staff and therefore need not be paid for in wages.

The Policy Director is the principal adviser on policy and public affairs to the Chief Executive. Alexandra Evans today takes over from David Austin (OBE), who in turn is appointed to replace BBFC Director David Cooke, when he retires from his role as Director on 10 March.

The Policy Director is responsible for coordinating the BBFC's policy work and managing and leading on its public affairs effort. The role is also responsible for managing the BBFC's research, communications and education programmes.

Alexandra Evans, BBFC Policy Director said:

The BBFC is an expert in the field of content regulation and upholds this expertise through regular consultation with the public, child protection experts and industry. I look forward to continuing David Austin's work to ensure the BBFC provides the best possible level of child protection and information provision for those making decisions about the content children are watching. I will also be working with the BBFC's Communication and Education teams to ensure the BBFC's services and education resources continue to be available to the public, academics and school children in the most accessible ways possible.

Prior to joining the BBFC, Alexandra established and ran an independent publishing house on behalf of the Chairman Emeritus of the law firm Mishcon de Reya. Alexandra is a qualified solicitor and worked for many years as a policy lawyer at Mishcon de Reya where she specialised in developing and implementing multifaceted advocacy strategies on behalf of a wide range of clients. She has advised on numerous public interest and human rights law issues, in particular the right to freedom of expression.