Films and Publications Act, 1996 (Act No. 65 of 1996)

Chapter 4 : Classification of films and games, self-classification, accreditation, complaints and prohibited content

18E. Complaints against prohibited content
Purchase cart Previous page Return to chapter overview Next page

 

(1)Any person may complain to the Board about unclassified , prohibited content, or potential prohibited content, in relation to services being offered online by any person, including commercial online distributors and non-commercial online distributors.

 

(2)If, upon investigation by the Board or by the compliance officers in terms of section 15, it is established that there is merit in the complaint and or that the prohibited content or content being hosted or distributed using the internet constitutes prohibited content in terms of this Act or has not been submitted for examination and classification as required in terms of sections 16, 18, 18C or 18D, the matter must be referred to the Board which may, subject to due process of law-in the case of a non-commercial online distributor, issue a take-down notice in accordance with the procedure in section 77 of Electronic Communications and Transactions, 2002 (Act No. 25 of 2002); or
(a)in the case of a non-commercial online distributor,issue a take-down notice in accordance with the procedure in section 77 of Electronic Communications and Transactions, 2002 (Act No. 25 of 2002); or
(b)the case of internet service providers, issue a take-down notice in terms of section 77 of Electronic Communications and Transactions, 2002 (Act No. 25 of 2002); or

 

(3)For the purposes of this section and sections 24E, 24F and 24G, the internet  service provider  shall  be compelled  to furnish  the Board  or a member  of the South African  Police  Services with  information  of  the identity of the person who published the prohibited content.

 

(4)In the case of content hosted outside of the Republic that is found to contain child pornography,  the Board shall refer the matter to the South African Police Service or to the hotline in the country concerned for the attention of law enforcement official s in that country.

 

(5)For the purposes of this section an "internet service provider" means the service provider  contemplated in section 70 and section 77  of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (Act  No. 25 of 2002).

 

[Section 18E inserted by section 19 of Proc 52, GG 45959, dated 25 February 2022]