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Revised Laws for Discs, Videos, and Games

Published: 04 Jan. 2003, 18:51

There will be a change on how 'PC rooms' are registered. Under the new laws anyone who wants to operate a PC room now is only expected to register their new business, they will no longer have to get prior approval through preliminary inspections.

In addition, the process for the classification of games will be changed from a three-step system to a two step system, with manufacturing firms able to sell goods related to the games freely.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) held a public hearing on the law amendments for discs, videos, and games on April 4 and announced these new measures.

According to the revised plans, the MCT decided to have the assigning of a rating, with those available to people 18 years old and up and those available to all ages, streamlined from the existing three steps to two.

The MCT decided to liberalize lending and selling businesses of media and to alleviate the restrictions on manufacturers and distributors, changing them to a registration only system. So far, all of these have been operating under a prior approval registration system.

The MCT also decided to harshly punish those that make adult only games available to under aged consumers to reduce the negative effects of the easing of regulations.

by Choi Ji-young