New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Monday passed a bill to curb the menace of film piracy, revamp age-based certification given by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) as well as uniformity in the categorization of films and content across platforms.
The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2023 was passed in the Lok Sabha with a voice vote despite protests by the members of the Opposition parties over the ongoing Manipur ethnic violence. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on July 27.
Speaking on the Bill, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said, “We (the government) will do the work of stopping piracy through this Bill.”
“Piracy is like cancer we are trying to uproot it through this Bill,” Thakur said in support of the Bill, which has provisions to curb transmission of pirated film content on the internet as well as to classify films on the basis of age group, instead of the current practice of ‘U’, ‘A’, and ‘UA’.
The bill prohibits carrying out or abetting the unauthorised recording and unauthorised exhibition of films. Attempting to make an unauthorised recording will also be an offence.
The offence will be punishable with imprisonment between three months and three years, and a fine between three lakh rupees and 5 percent of the audited gross production cost.
Under the Act, the certificate issued by the Board is valid for 10 years. The Bill provides that the certificates will be perpetually valid.
The Act empowers the central government to examine and make orders in relation to films that have been certified or are pending certification. The Board is required to dispose of matters in conformance with the order.
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