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Bill: CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP
Details
Submitted by[?]: Conservative Party
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This bill is a resolution. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: September 2572
Description[?]:
| The CP requests that the Ministry of Education and Culture establish the "Sekowan Motion Picture Rating System" whereas it will categorize films with regard to suitability for children and/or adults in terms of issues such as sex, violence, drugs, profanity or other types of mature content. The granting of a rating is called a "motion picture certification" or "certification" for short. This helps the people of Sekowo decide whether a movie is suitable for themselves and/or their children. A rating imposes on movie theatres the legal obligation of refusing the entrance into the movie halls and to stores the legal obligation of refusing sales to those who do not meet the rating requirements. [added April 2571] The Ministry of Education and Culture will aid each federal district in establish a body that will rate every available movie. The federal districts will submit their individual ratings to the SMPRS and to the movie distributor. The Ministry and representatives from the federal districts will meet every year to discuss improvements to the system. Federal districts have the right to establish any set number of categories, definitions or criteria for their own federal district within federal guidelines established by the Ministry of Education and Culture. If no guidelines are in place at a given time, federal districts may set their own guidelines. Any changes to the federal district's system must be submitted in writing to the Ministry of Education more than 6 months before implementation. The date of implementation must be also included in a clear manner. Movie distributors may acquire all necessary documentation of all federal districts directly from the Ministry of Education and Culture. If there are any discrepancies between document versions, the latest held by the Ministry will be recognized as the most accurate one. Movie production companies have the right to increase the rating given by a federal district to a higher level without question. They must submit the request in writing within the deadline time indicated on their rating review. Movie production companies may protest any rating given to a movie by a federal district. In such a case, a second panel comprising of entirely new reviewers will assess the film. If the rating fails to meet the satisfaction of the movie company, they may make a protest to the Ministry of Education and Culture for an investigation into reviewing practises of the federal districts. If an investigation is conducted and in conclusion was found unnecessary, the company requesting the investigation may be held accountable for the costs. The SMPRS will be a combination of the five federal district ratings. Distributors must clearly display the movie rating from the federal district if the product is being sold in that district. Distributors may include all five ratings for cheaper multi-district production. |
Proposals
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 00:34:32, April 20, 2008 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | >> G - General Audience - Suitable for all ages. >> PG - Parental Guidance - Parental guidance advised. There is no age restriction but some material may not be suitable for all children. >> S - Supervision Required - Children under the Sekowan age of adult (currently: 17) must be accompanied by an adult. >> R - Restricted - Admittance restricted to people Sekowan age of adult or older >> A - Adult - Admittance restricted to people Sekowan age of adult or older. Sole purpose of the film is the portrayal of sexually explicit activity and/or explicit violence. |
| Date | 00:57:32, April 20, 2008 CET | From | 帝国公明党 (Teikoku Kōmeitō) | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | We are relatively neutral. While in theory a ratings system that is purely informative is something we would support, we do not support the inherent age discrimination and indirect censorship that would most likely result form such a plan. |
| Date | 01:03:01, April 20, 2008 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | What kind of ratings system would the DSP endorse? |
| Date | 01:04:29, April 20, 2008 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | Could the DSP brainstorm ideas of a system that does not, in their eyes, discriminate or censor? |
| Date | 01:45:49, April 20, 2008 CET | From | 帝国公明党 (Teikoku Kōmeitō) | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | We would suggest the same rating we use with video games. A - Heavy instances of sex and/or violence. NC-17 - Moderate levels of sex and/or violence. PG-13 - Low levels of sex and/or violence. E - Very low or no instances of violence and gore, 'safe' for all ages. |
| Date | 03:03:24, April 20, 2008 CET | From | Normand Pluralist Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | We slightly prefer the CP proposal, though we certainly think the CP should go into more detail about what is appropriate we can see both sides of the issue, however. |
| Date | 04:57:56, April 20, 2008 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | A neutral council (say two people from each Federal District) would have to be set up to review movies before they enter theaters. They will have a detail criteria sheet to score the movie and then the rating is given before entering theaters. Can the DSP clarify how PG-13 and NC-17 are not age discrimination? |
| Date | 04:58:39, April 20, 2008 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | NPP, suggest a proposal. This isn't going into law as yet. Discussion first. I like those. =) |
| Date | 07:54:09, April 20, 2008 CET | From | Normand Pluralist Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | Why not have regional rating systems, instead of a national one? We think this would be more helpful. We could, however, have a national committee which could view the films and write a report on them essentially outlining what elements may be considered objectionable. [[I know there's a website out there that essentially does that - outlines every possible objectionable thing in a film, but offers no ratings]] |
| Date | 00:45:28, April 21, 2008 CET | From | 帝国公明党 (Teikoku Kōmeitō) | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | Our proposal i only a general guideline as to content, rather then telling people who can and cannot watch a movie based on age. |
| Date | 03:01:39, April 21, 2008 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | NPP, how would local be better than national? NPP, a list of objectionable content would be hard to look at it at a glance. We could include that listing as well but there would still need to be a rating for the quick suggestion. For example, a pornographic film would have a long list. OOC: Unless I understood the system incorrectly in which case, could you post the URL, please? DSP, yet PG-13 or NC-17 implies age in its rating. It's not adaptable to change without revising everything. If you label a movie to have strong sexual content, yet still allow a group of 12 year olds into the theater by themselves, you have not helped anyone out. In fact, it's worse now. You know the movie should not be seen by youngsters and do nothing about it. |
| Date | 03:25:49, April 21, 2008 CET | From | 帝国公明党 (Teikoku Kōmeitō) | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | It is in our opinion that ratings should only be helpful peices of information that people can use to decide if they want to see a movie or not. |
| Date | 06:33:24, April 21, 2008 CET | From | Normand Pluralist Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | [[ This is the website (took me a little while to find): http://www.screenit.com/index1.html . Looks like they've shifted from being totally free to partially subscriber-based, now. More's the pity. Anyway, here's an example rating: http://www.screenit.com/movies/2008/superhero_movie.html ]] Local would be better because standards for what is appropriate for children are not the same across Sekowo. With local ratings systems, local standards could be encouraged, instead of thinking that "one size fits all". |
| Date | 06:08:19, April 22, 2008 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | OOC: I like the screenit idea with a rating too except they call it "Heavy" or "None" or whatever. Same idea. So, screenit also does general ratings for quick reference. CP disagrees on the local. Not saying it could not work on a local level but it might be damaging for certain areas economically because people will go to the next city to watch movies that they were not permitted to see in their hometown, causing reduced sales in the local cinema. So, then all areas will essentially not enforce any regulations so that they can compete and everyone can watch everything which defeats the purpose. So, in this case, a standard across Sekowo is better. |
| Date | 06:20:57, April 22, 2008 CET | From | Normand Pluralist Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | Well, what about regional rating systems? |
| Date | 08:19:33, April 22, 2008 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | hmm ... that's like having different road signs in each region. Not cost effective for businesses and people have to learn multiple systems. OOC: It would be like Indian with 100+ languages. So, you pick a major language as a standard and can have the smaller languages running parallel. |
| Date | 05:54:59, April 23, 2008 CET | From | Normand Pluralist Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | [[Canada actually has different rating systems in the Provinces...]] |
| Date | 21:16:00, April 25, 2008 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | OOC: "No". I'll explain. English Canada almost has the same system. Same symbols. Almost always same rating conclusions. And then there is French Canada (Quebec) which usually does its own thing. Movie ratings is no exception. So, let's just exclude Quebec for this discussion. The system English Canada employs could work because although legally the jurisdiction of movie ratings is a provincial matter, there is still national consent. It costs movie to rate movie and duplicating work is waste of money. So, certain provinces decided to create a movie rating board who's job is to copy the ratings of another province. Saskatchewan copies B.C. or Alberta. The whole Atlantic Canada copies Nova Scotia. I think the territories copy Ontario. There are sometimes subtle differences between ratings. But almost always the same. When movie leave the theaters and come on DVD or BD, there is a national rating which is the average of all the provinces. Because if each province had their own ratings on home video, that would be even a greater waste of money. So, there are pros/cons but from an economical standpoint, waste of money. From a civil rights point of view, there are some minor infringement with having a federal standard. At the moment, because Canada is economically strong (best of G8 nations), we have money to waste, but if we start having economic troubles, this could be one area where they would cut spending. Except Quebec. Quebec is special. =) |
| Date | 01:22:16, April 26, 2008 CET | From | Normand Pluralist Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | [[That's why I'm suggesting a single board do the analysis, and then the results be forwarded to each province to simply categorize those results according to their own system]] |
| Date | 23:46:30, April 26, 2008 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | OOC: Okay. But then how about home video? Are each movie to be printed with a different label for each federal district? Movie companies complain about having to print multiple versions of movies for exceptional regions. It happens in Quebec that we have to import movies because a movie company does not want to make a Quebec-only DVD box. |
| Date | 07:29:05, April 27, 2008 CET | From | Normand Pluralist Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | [[Different label not required; they can simply have a small box stating what the different ratings are.]] |
| Date | 18:17:02, April 27, 2008 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | OOC: Ja. Then you get the lawsuits that "it wasn't clear enough" =D But I don't think we have a charter of rights so we can tell them "tough". =D And by agreeing to "local", I mean Federal District level. Not below. 5 is sufficient ratings. If there are distinct societies that want their own ratings, that's tough. |
| Date | 18:20:22, April 27, 2008 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | ... tough luck. |
| Date | 08:58:55, April 28, 2008 CET | From | Normand Pluralist Party | To | Debating the CP.0087.2564 Establishing the SMPRS Bill RP |
| Message | [[I agree about District level; other locales are certainly welcome to come up with their own rating systems, but requiring videos to be labeled with them would become unmanageable.]] |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | ||||
| yes |
Total Seats: 292 | ||||
| no |
Total Seats: 130 | ||||
| abstain |
Total Seats: 178 |
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| Random quote: "Envy is the cause of political division." - Democritus |