New ‘extreme pornography’ rules replace obscenity laws

The Pornography and Obscenity Regulations have been officially revoked, as a new legal regime enters into force with criminal sanctions against all forms of “extreme pornography”.

The new rules are part of a package of laws that overhauled Malta’s outdated censorship and obscenity laws, which in the past led to the forced withdrawal of theatre productions and the prosecution of novelist Alex Vella Gera and Mark Camilleri over a short story published in a university pamphlet.

Under the rules, published 12 August, an “extreme pornographic image” will be such if it portrays, in an explicit and realistic way, any of the following characteristics: an act which takes or threatens a person’s life; an act which results, or is likely to result, in a person’s severe injury; rape or other non-consensual penetrative sexual activity; sexual activity involving, directly or indirectly, a human corpse; an act which involves sexual activity between a person and an animal or the carcass of an animal.

The new rules accord some leeway to the courts to assess when images have not been produced for the holder’s sexual arousal, an important caveat when dealing with artistic productions.

Specifically, the material must be intended for the holder's sexual arousal.

In determining whether an image depicts an extreme act when found in the person’s possession, the courts will have to consider how the image is or was described, whether the description is part of the image itself or otherwise; any sounds accompanying the image; where the image forms an integral part of a narrative constituted by a series of images, and any sounds accompanying the series of images

The rules do not apply to classified films within the meaning of the Cinema and Stage Age-Classification Regulations or when an image serves the public good in the interests of science, literature, art or learning or other objects of general concern.