A
HUD SOY. RECEIVEC
GINANV
INDEA
-7 APR 1987
CONFIDENTIAL
! REF STRY
Auton Taken
FROM:
DATE:
тики
Whale Shaugh & say.
Is HKJA rps
in
тим
his?
R.
PS/Mr/Renton
Ments.
Cc:
Mr Hum, HIST
CO Hum
Thanks
Hong Kong Department
25 March 1987
Private Secretary
Mr Gillmore
Mr Masefield, FED
Mr Meyer, News Dept
Mr Fifoot, Deputy Legal
Adviser
разор PA 301/1
HONG KONG: FILM CENSORSHIP
1.
Mr Renton has asked, in connection with a report in the
Financial Times of 19 March, for background on the recent
controversy in Hong Kong over film censorship.
B
Existing Censorship Provisions
2.-
Since 1953 the Hong Kong Government has practised film
censorship under the Film Censorship Regulations, made under the
Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance, Chapter 172 of the laws of
Hong Kong. The present guidelines under which the Hong Kong
Government Board of Censors operates were published in 1973. They cover the censorship of a film not only on the grounds that it is (for example) morally unacceptable or racially offensive, but also on the grounds that it might "damage good relations with other
territories".
3. Out of some 8,400 films considered by the censors since 1973, 20
have been censored under this particular guideline. Most of these
were Taiwanese films critical of the PRC Government. The Hong Kong
Government's power to censor films has not been publicly challenged
during this time, although certain individual bannings have been
criticised locally.
4. Last year the Hong Kong Government decided to review its film
censorship arrangements for two reasons:
(a) the existing censorship provisions do not give any legal force
CONFIDENTIAL