| (1) | Any person may exhibit in public or distribute any film, game or publication classified as "X18" in terms of this Act if such person is the holder of a licence to conduct the business of adult premises, issued by a licensing authority in terms of relevant national, provincial or local government laws: Provided that such exhibition or distribution takes place on or from within premises forming part of a building. |
| (2) | Any exemption granted in terms of subsection (1) may be suspended by the Board for a period not exceeding one year, if the Board, after the holding of an inquiry, is satisfied that— |
| (a) | notices stating that no person under the age of 18 years may enter or be within such premises were not displayed, in the manner prescribed by the Board, at all entrances to the premises concerned; |
| (b) | a film, game or publication was displayed or exhibited within such premises, or in a display window or door forming part thereof, in such a manner or in such a position that the film, game or publication could be seen from any point outside the premises concerned; |
| (c) | any person under the age of 18 years was allowed to enter or be within the premises concerned; or |
| (d) | any film, game or publication classified as "X18" in terms of a decision of the Board, published in the Gazette, was delivered by the person licensed in terms of subsection (1) to conduct such premises— |
| (i) | to a person who is not the holder of a similar licence; or |
| (ii) | in a manner which was not in accordance with regulations made under this Act with the aim of preventing the delivery of such films, games or publications to persons under the age of 18 years. |
| (3) | Any person who is registered as a film or game distributor in terms of section 18( 1)(a) may, subject to an exemption heing granted hy the Board, distribute a film or game classified as 'X 18' online, subject to the following conditions: |
| (a) | The distributor shall ensure to the satisfaction of the Board that children under the age of 18 would not be able to access such a film or game on-line; |
| (b) | the distributor shall ensure that the classification and age restriction are clearly displayed on the screen of the user throughout the screening; |
| (c) | the user must confirm that he or she is 18 years or older prior to commencing viewing of the film or playing the game; |
| (d) | the distributor shall not distribute any promotion of the film or game to be accessed without it being paid for by way of a credit card or another child secure method agreed to by the Board and, for the purposes of this subsection, the promotion of the film shall be subject to the same condition s regarding distribution as the main feature of the film or game; |
| (e) | the distributor shall keep, solely for his or her private records, a register of all instances where access was granted to a user, whose name, address and verifiable age must be noted in the register kept for that purpose; |
| (f) | the register referred to in paragraph (e) must be kept for one year from the date when distribution took place; |
| (g) | the chief executive officer may approach a court ex parte for the production of the register referred to in paragraph (e) if he or she has reasonable cause to believe that the online distributor is supplying material to children under the age of 18; |
| (h) | if the film or game is exhibited online in a public place, that place must be a licensed premises in terms of subsection (1); |
| (i) | the Board may, after due inquiry, suspend an exemption for a maximum period of I2 months if any of the conditions specified in this subsection have not been met by the distributor; |
| (j) | a distributor who knowingly or negligently grants access to a film or game classified as 'X 18' to a child under the age of 18 shall be guilty of an offence as contemplated in section 24A(4); and |
| (k) | the inquiry instituted by the Board in terms of paragraph (i) must continue even if criminal proceedings have been instituted against the distributor. |
[Section 24(3) inserted by section 23 of Proc 52, GG 45959, dated 25 February 2022]
[Section 24 substituted by section 28 of Notice No. 876, GG 32534, dated 28 August 2009]
