Cinematograph Films Act 1960
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1960 c. 14 |
| Year | 1960 |
Cinematograph Films Act, 1960
(8 & 9 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 14
An Act to amend the Cinematograph Films Acts, 1938 and 1948.
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Extension of period during which British films are to be shown, and change in renters' licensing year and quota period.
(1) Section one of the Act of 1948 (which requires exhibitors to include British films among the films exhibited by them to the public) shall continue in force until the end of the year nineteen hundred and sixty-seven and shall then expire.
(2) The periods which for the purposes of the Acts of 1938 and 1948 are the first renters' licensing year and the first quota period beginning after the end of March, nineteen hundred and sixty, shall end with the year nineteen hundred and sixty and nineteen hundred and sixty-one respectively; and thereafter the renters' licensing year and the quota period for the purposes of those Acts shall be any calendar year during which section one of the Act of 1948 is in force.
2 Newsreels.
(1) Where the condition specified in paragraph (a of section twenty-five of the Act of 1938 and the further conditions specified in subsection (2) of this section are fulfilled in respect of a film consisting wholly or mainly of photographs which, at the time when they were taken, were means of communicating news, the conditions imposed by the said subsection (1) shall be deemed to be fulfilled in respect of the film and, notwithstanding paragraph (a ) of section thirty-five of that Act (which excepts such films from the application of the Acts of 1938 and 1948)—
(a ) the Board of Trade shall, upon application duly made to them not later than the expiry of section one of the Act of 1948, register the film as a British film and (whatever its labour costs per minute of playing time, and notwithstanding anything in section ten of this Act) as an exhibitors' quota film; and
(b ) where the film is so registered the Acts of 1938 and 1948 shall apply to it, but subject to the following provisions of this section.
A film which is eligible for registration by virtue of this section or has been so registered is in the following provisions of this section referred to as a newsreel.
(2) The said further conditions are—
(a ) that the film was edited in the United Kingdom and its commentary was written and recorded there; and
(b ) that each of the persons who edited the film or spoke the commentary was a British subject or citizen of the Republic of Ireland.
(3) Section twenty-four of the Act of 1938 (which relates to applications for registration) shall apply in relation to a newsreel with the omission of subsection (2) (which prevents an application from being entertained unless the film has been or is to be trade-shown); but no application for the registration of a newsreel shall be entertained unless it is accompanied—
(a ) by a statutory declaration that the newsreel is one of a sequence of which not less than one a week is made and delivered to exhibitors in Great Britain for public exhibition; and
(b ) by an undertaking that not less than three-quarters of all the photographs together comprised in the newsreels of that sequence registered during the quarterly period in which the application is made will have been taken in the United Kingdom or any other country which is among those referred to by the expression ‘His Majesty's dominions’ as used in the Act of 1938;
and where an application for the registration of a newsreel is made more than five days after the newsreel is first delivered to an exhibitor in Great Britain for public exhibition, it shall not be entertained unless the Board of Trade are satisfied that the delay was due to special circumstances and was not intentional.
(4) Where at the end of a quarterly period the undertakings given in that period under paragraph (b ) of subsection (3) of this section in respect of the newsreels of any sequence have not been fulfilled the Board of Trade shall cancel the registration of all newsreels of that sequence which were registered during that period and shall publish the cancellation in the Board of Trade Journal; and the cancellation shall have effect as from the date of publication.
(5) Where a newsreel has been registered it shall be deemed for the purposes of the Acts of 1938 and 1948 to have been registered on the date on which it was first delivered to an exhibitor in Great Britain for public exhibition; but where a renter has delivered a newsreel to an exhibitor before the date on which it is registered he shall be deemed to have complied with the requirements of section thirty-three of the Act of 1938 (which requires certain information to be given to an exhibitor) if, and only if, he has notified him, at such time and in such manner as may be prescribed, of such particulars of the newsreel as may be prescribed and of his intention to apply for its registration.
(6) Where a renter has notified an exhibitor of his intention to apply for the registration of a film as a newsreel and either the film is not eligible for registration by virtue of this section or he does not apply for its registration within the time within which the application can be entertained under subsection (3) of this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty pounds.
(7) Sections seventeen, eighteen and twenty of the Act of 1938 (which prohibit and invalidate blind booking and advance booking) shall not apply in relation to registered newsreels; and section twenty-four of that Act (which relates to applications for registration) shall have effect, in relation to the registration of newsreels, as if the proviso to subsection (3) (which requires an applicant to furnish a declaration that no agreement invalidated by the said section twenty has been made) were omitted.
3 Non-standard films.
3. In section seven of the Act of 1948 (which provides that the Acts of 1938 and 1948 shall not apply to films other than standard films but may be so applied by regulations made by the Board of Trade) the words in subsection (1) defining standard films shall be omitted and at the end of the section there shall be added the following subsection:—
(4) In this section—
'film' includes any record, however made, of a sequence of visual images, which is a record capable of being used as a means of showing that sequence as a moving picture; and
'standard film' means a film of a width of thirty-five millimetres which is designed to be exhibited by projection from one reel at a time.’
4 Combination of quota periods for purposes of s. 1 of Act of 1948.
(1) Where a film registered as a foreign film is to be exhibited to the public at any theatre, and before it is so exhibited an application for a direction under this section is made to the Board of Trade by the exhibitor who exhibits films to the public at that theatre, the Board may, if they think fit, direct that, if the film is so exhibited, and the period during which it is so exhibited is or includes such a continuous period exceeding eight weeks as is specified in the direction, the requirements imposed by section one of the Act of 1948 shall be deemed to be complied with in relation to that theatre in the relevant quota period, if they are so complied with in that period and the succeeding quota period taken together.
(2) The relevant quota period for the purposes of this section is the quota period in which the film is exhibited as aforesaid or, if it is so exhibited in more than one quota period, that one of them which the exhibitor elects.
(3) Before giving a direction under this section the Board of Trade shall consult the Cinematograph Films Council and consider its advice in the matter.
5 Exemptions and reliefs, and itinerant exhibitors.
5. For section four of the Act of 1948 there shall be substituted the following section:—
4 ‘Exemptions and reliefs, and itinerant exhibitors.
(1) Where films are exhibited to the public at a theatre in any locality (in this subsection referred to as the local cinema) and the Board of Trade are satisfied—
(a ) that films are exhibited, in competition with the local cinema, at not less than two other theatres in the same locality; or
(b ) that films are exhibited, in competition with the local cinema, at another theatre in the same locality and that films are not normally exhibited to the public at the local cinema for a continuous period of more than three days, not counting Sundays; and
(c ) in either case, that owing to circumstances beyond the control of the exhibitor who exhibits films at the local cinema films registered as British films are exhibited at those other theatres or that other theatre on dates earlier than the dates on which he is able to exhibit the same films at the local cinema,
the Board may, if they think fit, direct that in relation to the exhibition of films at the local cinema the prescribed percentage for the purposes of subsection (2) or subsection (3) of section one of this Act shall be reduced, in the case of such quota period or periods as may be specified in the direction, to such percentage as may be so specified.
(2) Before giving a direction under subsection (1) of this section the Board shall consult the Cinematograph Films Council and consider its advice in the matter.
(3) Where the Board of Trade are satisfied that the average net box office...
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