Centre proposes maximum three-year jail term, steep fines to curb film piracy

The government has proposed a maximum three-year jail term and a fine up to five per cent of the production cost of a film for persons making pirated copies of movies, in a bill to amend the Cinematograph Act.

The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill-2023, introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday by Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur also proposes to grant the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certificate to films with perpetual validity by doing away with the 10-year validity period.

The Bill was made available in the public domain on Friday.

Thakur withdrew the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill-2019 before introducing the revised Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

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The Bill seeks to introduce age-based certification in 'UA' category into three age-based categories, namely 'UA 7+', 'UA 13+' and 'UA 16+', and also to empower the CBFC to sanction the film with a separate certificate for its exhibition on television or other media.

In a bid to curb film piracy, the Bill seeks to introduce new sections in the Cinematograph Act with provisions to prohibit unauthorised recording of films (section 6AA) and their exhibition (section 6AB).

The stringent new provision 6AA in the Bill also prohibits recording of a film or any part thereof with the sole purpose of using the recording in the same device.

"If any person contravenes the provisions of section 6AA or section 6AB, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three months, but may extend to three years and with a fine which shall not be less than three lakh rupees but may extend to five per cent of the audited gross production cost," the Bill said.

"The proposed amendments would make the certification process more effective, in tune with the present times, and comprehensively curb the menace of film piracy, and thus help in faster growth of the film industry and boost job creation in the sector," Thakur said in the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill.