Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993

Preliminary provisions

3B: Publication may be age-restricted if likely to be injurious to public good for specified reasons

You could also call this:

"We can restrict books, videos or publications that might harm or upset young people."

Illustration for Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993

You can restrict a publication if it has material that could harm the public. This can happen if the publication has content that describes harm to people or shows conduct that could cause serious harm. You can find more information about how publications are classified under section 23(2)(c)(i). You might restrict a publication if it has material that could greatly disturb or shock young people. This material could also increase the risk of young people harming themselves or others. It could even encourage young people to treat themselves or others badly. A publication can be restricted if it has visual images that are degrading or dehumanising. These images could be of a person's body and could be disturbing when seen with other content in the publication. The goal is to protect young people from content that could harm them.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM313413.

This page was last updated on 8 December 2025 — View changes

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3A: Publication may be age-restricted if it contains highly offensive language likely to cause serious harm, or

"Publications with very upsetting language can be restricted to protect young people."

3C: Procedure for classification under sections 3A and 3B, or

"How the Classification Office decides if a publication is restricted"

Part 1Preliminary provisions

3BPublication may be age-restricted if likely to be injurious to public good for specified reasons

A publication to which subsection (2) applies may be classified as a restricted publication under section 23(2)(c)(i).
This subsection applies to a publication that contains material specified in subsection (3) to such an extent or degree that the availability of the publication would, if not restricted to persons who have attained a specified age, be likely to be injurious to the public good for any or all of the reasons specified in subsection (4).
The material referred to in subsection (2) is material that—
describes, depicts, expresses, or otherwise deals with—
1. harm to a person's body whether it involves infliction of pain or not (for example, self-mutilation or similarly harmful body modification) or self-inflicted death; or
2. conduct that, if imitated, would pose a real risk of serious harm to self or others or both; or
3. physical conduct of a degrading or dehumanising or demeaning nature; or
is or includes 1 or more visual images—
1. of a person's body; and
2. that, alone, or together with any other contents of the publication, are of a degrading or dehumanising or demeaning nature.

The reasons referred to in subsection (2) are that the general levels of emotional and intellectual development and maturity of persons under the specified age mean that the availability of the publication to those persons would be likely to—
cause them to be greatly disturbed or shocked; or
increase significantly the risk of them killing, or causing serious harm to, themselves, others, or both; or
encourage them to treat or regard themselves, others, or both, as degraded or dehumanised or demeaned.

Notes

Section 3B: inserted, on 22 February 2005, by section 5 of the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 2).