Office of Film and Literature Classification

The FVPC Act gives the OFLC the power to classify publications into three categories: unrestricted, restricted, and "objectionable" or banned. Unrestricted films are assigned a green or yellow rating label. Restricted films are assigned a red classification label.

Since early 2013 some DVDs and Blu-rays released in New Zealand have had the rating label printed on the cover to prevent the removal of the label, which is illegal.

New Zealand has used a colour-coded labelling system since 1987. The colours are intended to resemble the messages conveyed by a traffic light: a green label means that nothing in the film, video or DVD should inhibit anyone from viewing it; a yellow label means proceed with caution because the film, video or DVD may have content that younger viewers should not see; and a red label means stop and ensure that no one outside the restriction views the film, video, DVD or computer game. It is an offence to supply age-restricted material to anyone under the age shown on the label.

The current classification system was introduced in 1993, harmonising the previously different standards for film and video. The following classifications are currently in use:

Label	Name	Definition
	General	Suitable for general audiences.
	Parental Guidance	Parental guidance recommended for younger viewers.
	Mature	Suitable for (but not restricted to) mature audiences 16 years and up.
	RP13	Restricted to people 13 years of age and over, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.
	R13	Restricted to people 13 years of age and over.
	R15	Restricted to people 15 years of age and over.
	RP16	Restricted to people 16 years of age and over, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.
	R16	Restricted to people 16 years of age and over.
	R18	Restricted to people 18 years of age and over.
	Restricted	Restricted to a particular class of people, or for particular purposes, or both, specified by the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

The RP18 rating is the newest rating, having been created in April 2017 specifically for the drama series 13 Reasons Why.[8]

The Film and Video Labelling Body may award films, videos and DVDs an unrestricted classification of (G, PG or M) based on their Australian classification, or British classification if no Australian classification exists. The OLFC is the only body who may award restricted ratings.

Red labels have been available for non-film publications such as magazines and video games since 2005.

The OFLC classifies material based on whether it is likely to be "harmful" or "injurious to the public good." Specifically (from the FVPC Act): "a publication is objectionable if it describes, depicts, expresses, or otherwise deals with matters such as sex, horror, crime, cruelty, or violence in such a manner that the availability of the publication is likely to be injurious to the public good." In 2000 the Court of Appeal of New Zealand decided in Living Word Distributors Limited v Human Rights Action Group (Wellington) [2000] NZCA 179 (a case involving two videos produced by Jeremiah Films) that the collocation of the words "sex, horror, crime, cruelty or violence" tends to point to activity rather than to the expression of opinion or attitude. On this interpretation, the OFLC had jurisdiction to restrict or ban publications describing or depicting sexual activities, but not those describing only an attitude or opinion about sex. The same interpretation required publications to describe or depict horror activities, criminal activities, cruel activities, and violent activities, rather than just an opinion or attitude about those things, for the OFLC to be able to classify them.

The Court of Appeal explicitly ruled that the phrase "matters such as sex" is strongly indicative of sexual activities and does not include sexual orientation. This made it more difficult for the OFLC to restrict or ban publications that simply exploited the nudity of children or portrayed classes of people as inherently inferior, but did not show any of the specified types of activity, notwithstanding the fact the FVPC Act directs the censors to give "particular weight" to these things when deciding whether or not to restrict or ban a publication. It also made it difficult for the OFLC to restrict publications simply containing offensive language or to ban videos of persons taken without their knowledge or consent, such as "upskirt" videos, on the ground of invasion of privacy, again because neither type of publication shows any of the specified types of activity. In 2005, Parliament amended the FVPC Act, and commenced amendment of the Crimes Act, to restore the OFLC's jurisdiction over all of these matters except for publications that simply portray classes of people as inherently inferior.

Under the FVPC Act material that promotes, supports, or tends to promote or support the following is deemed objectionable (banned):

• Sexual exploitation of children
• Coercion
• Extreme violence, torture, and/or cruelty
• Bestiality
• Necrophilia
• Urophilia
• Coprophilia
  

The Censorship Compliance Unit of the Department of Internal Affairs is responsible for the enforcement of the FVPC Act.

The Government has announced a regulatory change to bring commercial video on demand content from services like Netflix and Lightbox under the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993. Providers would be able to self-classify within a New Zealand framework.

Currently streaming services are not covered by the same law that cinema movies or DVDs are and that means various providers use information from other countries or create their own.

The Classification Office undertakes research about entertainment media content, media impacts, classification and censorship.[14] Recent projects have investigated young New Zealanders experiences and views about sexual violence in entertainment media, and online pornography.

The OFLC also regularly convenes panels that are demographically representative of New Zealand as a whole to assist it with the classification of particular publications. It has convened public panels to assist it with the classification of films such as Baise-moi, Salo, Monster's Ball, Irréversible, Silent Hill, Du er ikke alene, Lolita, 8MM and Hannibal.

More frequently, the OFLC consults experts to assist it with the classification of various publications. For example, religious experts were consulted to assist with the classification of The Passion of the Christ, experts in road safety were consulted on Mischief Destroy, the Children's Commissioner on Ken Park and The Aristocrats, homeopathic practitioners on drug manufacturing books written by Steve Preisler , various human rights organisations and the Vicar of Gisborne on a publication entitled Against Homosexuality, and rape crisis centres and psychologists on Irréversible and an edition of the University of Otago student magazine Critic.

Each year the OFLC consults media studies students in its high school programme called Censor for a Day, during which an unreleased film is shown to high school students, who are then asked to classify it applying the criteria in the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993. The students' classification is compared with, and usually identical to, the film's actual classification. Films used for Censor for a Day have included BlacKkKlansman, Get Out, Blockers, and Super Dark Times.

The Office works with a Youth Advisory panel of diverse young people aged 16-19 who provide a youth voice on media in New Zealand. Meetings are held once a month and are around two hours long. During the meetings, panel members express their views and perspectives on issues to do with potential media harms that impact on young people in New Zealand and the way the Classification Office responds to those issues. After a robust discussion, the panel members brainstorm what potential tangible outcomes could look like.

The panel regularly participate in classification assessments of upcoming feature films. Recently they helped with the classification of Boy Erased, Good Boys, and Booksmart. Their discussion is summarised in the classification decisions for those films.

• William Jolliffe 1916–1927
• W. A. Tanner 1927–1937
• W. A. von Keisenberg 1938–1949
• Gordon Mirams 1949–1959
• Douglas McIntosh 1960–1976
• Bernard Tunnicliffe 1977–1983
• Arthur Everard 1984–1990
• Jane Wrightson 1991–1993
• Kathryn Paterson 1994–1998
• Bill Hastings 1999–2010
• Andrew Jack 2011–2017
• David Shanks 2017–present

The Chief Censor is the chief executive officer and chairperson of the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

• Censorship in New Zealand

• Angela Carr: Internet Traders of Child Pornography and Other Censorship Offenders in New Zealand: Department of Internal Affairs: Wellington: 2004 (available from the Department of Internal Affairs
• David Wilson: Censorship In New Zealand: The Policy Challenges Of New Technology. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand 19 2002.[15]
• David Wilson: Responding to the challenges: recent developments in censorship policy in New Zealand. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand 30 2007.[16]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Office of Film and Literature Classification.

• Official website
• Society for the Promotion of Community Standards
• Censorship Compliance Unit