Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995

The Board may approve or refuse to approve an advertisement for a publication, a film or a computer game either on an application for approval or on its own initiative. An approval of an advertisement may be subject to conditions.

An application for approval of an advertisement must be:

in writing; and

made in a form approved by the Director in writing; and

signed by or on behalf of the applicant; and

accompanied by the prescribed fee for that category of advertisement.

The matters to be taken into account in deciding whether to approve an advertisement include the matters set out in section 11 and the classification guidelines referred to in section 12.

The Board must refuse to approve an advertisement if, in the opinion of the Board, the advertisement:

describes, depicts or otherwise deals with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that it offends against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that it should not be approved; or

depicts or describes, in a way that is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult, a person who is, or appears to be, a child under 18 (whether the person is engaged in sexual activity or not); or

promotes crime or violence, or incites or instructs in matters of crime or violence; or

is used, or is likely to be used, in a way that is offensive to a reasonable adult.

The Board must refuse to approve an advertisement for a publication if the publication:

has been classified RC; or

is an unclassified submittable publication.

The Board must refuse to approve an advertisement for:

a film or computer game that has been classified RC; or

an unclassified film or unclassified computer game that, if classified, would be likely to be classified RC.