LONDON — The House of Commons has modified amendments to the U.K.’s pending Crime and Policing Bill, including provisions regulating “step” content, content featuring adults role-playing as minors, and performers’ ability to withdraw consent.
As XBIZ reported in March, the House of Lords, the U.K.’s upper house of Parliament, approved amendments to the bill that would invalidate talent contracts, and outlaw “step” porn and content in which adult performers appear to portray minors. However, there has been ongoing tension between the Lords and the government over the amendments, and last week, the government indicated that it was backing amendments that would somewhat limit their scope.
The House of Commons has now published its proposed changes to the Lords’ amendments, in accordance with the government’s position. Those revisions include:
Limiting the proposed ban on “step” content. Under the House of Commons amendments, depictions of incest involving blood relatives would be outlawed, but the “step” ban would apply only if a performer is portraying someone under the age of 18. The government has emphasized that this provision is meant to ensure that the law only criminalizes material that portrays sex that would be illegal in real life.
Limiting the ban on content depicting adults portraying children. The House of Commons amendments would adjust this ban so that only “sound or information associated with the image” can indicate that a performer is portraying a character under 16. This replaces broader criteria, under which elements such as costume and setting could indicate whether an adult performer is portraying a minor. The updated, more specific requirement appears to mean that only audible dialogue and/or titles and descriptions associated with content would constitute such evidence. A government memorandum posted Tuesday notes, by way of example, that the law is “not intended to criminalise a pornographic image of someone who is clearly an adult where the only marker of childhood is the fact that he or she is in school uniform.”
Replacing a plan to allow anyone appearing in adult content to withdraw their consent at any time. The House of Lords amendments would require sites to verify the age and consent of all performers, and to remove content within 24 hours if a performer withdraws their consent — regardless of whether they previously consented to publication of the content or signed a contract. Instead of creating that new law, the House of Commons version would simply require the Secretary of State to conduct an overall review of sites’ age and consent verification procedures, and present the results to Parliament within a year. The Secretary of State would also be given new powers to intervene on this issue and regulate sites’ age and consent verification duties without further authorization by Parliament.
The House of Commons’ list of proposed amendments does not include any objections or changes to a House of Lords amendment that would outlaw “choking” content. The government has concurred with that plan.
The differences between the Lords and Commons versions of the Crime and Policing bill will need to be resolved during “ping pong” negotiations, as proposed changes go back and forth between the two bodies.