Russian authorities are going tighten punishments for failure to enforce age restrictions for movies.
The culture ministry is preparing amendments to the existing legislation, under which fines for violation of age restrictions are to go up considerably, the Russian daily Izvestia reported.
In accordance with the report, the minimum fine will go up from $33 (2,000 rubles) to $167 (10,000 rubles), for private individuals, and the maximum fine will be raised from $3,300 (200,000 rubles) to $8,300 (500,000 rubles).
Simultaneously, changes to the system of age restrictions, which has been in place since 2012, are to be made. 18+ is to remain the only mandatory age restriction, while all other existing age restrictions, such as 12+ or 16+, are to become advisory.
The amendments also stipulate a ban on screening trailers containing sex and violence before movies that don’t have age restrictions.
The idea of making amendments to the system of age restrictions was first floated last month my culture minister Vladimir Medinsky. Addressing members of Russia’s Parental Association, he said that age restrictions currently stipulated by law are not properly enforced and sometimes are just confusing.
There have also been complaints that theaters don’t normally check viewers’ IDs, letting young viewers in regardless of age restrictions.
