European justice ministers met this week and agreed to examine
the area of computer game law. German Justice Minister Brigitte
Zypries, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU,
said that the first step in the process was to publish a summary of
game ratings which parents could check. She said this would happen
soon on an EU website.
EU's Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said after the two
days of meetings that he had encouraged all member states to ban
violent games. "The protection of children cannot have borders,"
Frattini said
While the UK and Germany have laws which restrict the sale of
violent games to children not all European countries have such
laws; in many countries there are only guidelines relating to
games.
“A certain degree of linkage between the growing violence among
the younger generation and the growing diffusion of violent games
exists,” said Frattini.
Amidst fears that the Commission wants to move to ban some games
outright, Frattini said that the banning of games would remain a
matter for individual countries. He did say, though, that he would
seek to harmonise each country's approach to punishing retailers
who sell violent games to the young.
In the UK games must be submitted for rating to the British
Board of Film Classification (BBFC) if they contain "realistic
violence against humans or animals, or human sexual
activity".
Attempts in the US to implement binding age restrictions on
games have faltered. A number of states have passed laws banning
the sale of certain games to minors but almost all of those laws
have been successfully challenged in the courts as violating the US
Constitution's first amendment, which guarantees rights to free
speech.
Zypries said that she would begin consultation outside of the
EU, particularly with the US and Japan, on co-ordination with those
countries.
Frattini said that he wanted a uniform system of classification
and labelling to be used in Europe's 27 member states, but that
actual classification of individual games would have to be
conducted on a country-by-country basis.
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