Anti-Pornography Act, 2014

The Minister has the power to appoint the date on which this Act comes into force by statutory instrument.

Provides definitions of terms used in the Act, including "authorised person", "broadcast", "child", "Committee", "currency point", "internet-content-developer", "Internet Service Provider (ISP)", "Minister", "pornography", "procure", "publish", and "traffic".

Members of the Committee must be paid allowances; the amounts are determined by the Ministry responsible for Public Service.

The Committee is granted powers to inspect, inquire, require records, seize items, close ISPs, and cause arrests in relation to enforcement of this Act; members must identify themselves when exercising these powers.

The secretary is responsible for implementing Committee decisions, taking minutes, keeping records and performing other assigned functions; the Committee must have a secretariat; the Secretary is not a member of the Committee.

Establishes the Pornography Control Committee of nine members and states that the Minister shall appoint the members with Cabinet approval.

A person may only be a member of the Committee if they are of sound mind, have high moral character and proven integrity, and have at least ten years’ experience in specified fields.

A member of the Committee must hold office for five years and is eligible for reappointment for one more term.

The Minister may remove a Committee member from office for specified grounds; a member may resign by written notice to the Minister, effective when the Minister receives it.

The Committee must perform a set of functions to detect, prevent and respond to pornography, including detection, prosecution support, destruction of materials, public education, rehabilitation, protective software, curriculum materials and collaboration.

Schedule 2 applies to the procedure at meetings of the Committee.

The Committee may co-opt non-members to attend meetings as advisers; those advisers may speak when their advice is sought but may not vote.

A person must not produce, traffic in, publish, broadcast, procure, import, export, sell or abet any form of pornography.

It is an offence for a person to produce, participate in, traffic in, publish, broadcast, procure, import, export or otherwise abet pornography depicting images of children; on conviction the person is liable to a fine not exceeding seven hundred and fifty currency points or imprisonment not exceeding fifteen years or both.

If the court is informed that premises or material contain pornography, the court must issue a warrant to seize the material and arrest the promoter; authorised persons with a warrant may enter, inspect and seize items; obstructing them is an offence punishable by a fine or imprisonment.

The Committee, the court or a police officer (not below superintendent) may in writing direct various media or persons to stop dealing in pornography; failure to comply is an offence punishable by a fine (up to two hundred and fifty currency points), imprisonment (up to five years), or both.

An Internet Service Provider (ISP) that fails to use or enforce the Committee‑recommended means or procedures to control pornography and thereby permits pornographic content to be uploaded or downloaded through its service commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine (not exceeding five hundred currency points) or imprisonment (not exceeding five years) or both.

If a proprietor is convicted of a second or subsequent offence, the convicting court may order suspension or prohibition from dealing in leisure or entertainment; failure to comply with such an order is an offence punishable by a fine up to 250 currency points or imprisonment up to five years or both.

If an offence under the Act is committed by a body corporate, the body corporate is liable to a fine up to double the fine prescribed for an individual; and a director, secretary or partner proved to have contributed is treated as having committed the offence and is liable to the individual penalty.

When someone is convicted under this Act, the court must order that materials and objects used in the offence be forfeited to the state and destroyed.

The Committee's funds must be monies approved by Parliament and donations for its functions; the Committee's finances must be included in the Ministry responsible for ethics' budget estimates.

The Committee must make an annual report to the Minister on the performance of its functions within six months after the end of each financial year.

The Minister must as soon as possible lay before Parliament the Committee's annual report (submitted under section 22), together with any comments the Minister considers necessary.

The Committee must maintain a Register of Pornography Offenders listing the name of every person convicted under this Act in the form set out in Schedule 3.

The Committee must maintain an archive of all relevant administrative records and other documents related to its functions.

The Minister may, by statutory instrument and with the Cabinet's approval, amend Schedules 1 and 2.

The Minister may make regulations by statutory instrument, and regulations may provide for education, rehabilitation, eradication, multi-sectoral strategies and other measures; contraventions may attract up to two thousand currency points or up to five years imprisonment and the convicting court may order forfeiture or destruction of related materials.

Section 166 of the Penal Code Act, Cap. 120, relating to traffic in obscene publications is repealed.