June 17th, 2009

VSC Comes to Enforce Legislation of the New PEGI System

PEGI – the Pan-European Game Information age rating system was created to help parents to draw informed decisions on purchasing computer games. It was established in the spring of 2003 to replace some other national age rating systems with a single one that it is used across most of Europe. This system is supported by console manufactures (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo), by publishers and developers of interactive games. The companies that do not comply with the PEGI laws will have to face fines and the possibilities of not obtaining licenses to release titles in UK.

VCS – the Video Standards Council, is the new body to manage game ratings in the UK, and on one hand, to oversee the system of games industry and implement the PEGI system for all titles released. On the other hand VCS comes to enforce legislation of the new PEGI system.

Sion Simon, the Creative Industries Minister, said that the system is meant to protect children and give parents a clear and informed data on what is released on he market. These data are to be contained in a trustworthy, uniform set of symbols that are to be worked out by PEGI and VSC, providing the clarity and safeguards that are needed.

PEGI and VSC will develop a single set of age-rating systems that consists of five categories depicting content. BBC will no longer be part of the classification of games, but will be on their positions regarding the DVD and Blu-ray release. A government decision has addressed VSC as being the designated authority in videogames classification in the UK. Their role will be to ensure that the games coming into UK comply with PEGI ratings before the license will be given to them that will allow their sale.

The president of VSC considers that the government decision is a major step taken to guard children’s safety, on and offline in the video games area. As a leading authority, VSC is rating all videogames aged 12 and above in 30 countries, and by turning PEGI into a legal force in UK, enables the parents to have accurate information and make informed decisions when it comes to games rating and games buying as well. The president added the fact that VSC has also the power to ban games independently of a PEGI classification.

Compared to PEGI that has always been a self-regulatory system, Video Standard Council will crack down on any companies that try to exploit the system. Nowadays there is so much content going online, that is not at all realistic to expect a classification body to qualify a product. It has to be a self-declaration different from self-regulation rule. The self-declaration, which is to be signed by the publishers, will be thoroughly checked up and its content must comply to the VSC laws, otherwise they will face fines.