British retailers will be permitted to sell children violent and pornographic videos and computer games without fear of prosecution for the next three months — due to a legislative error made 25 years ago.

Britain was required to notify the European Commission, the commission which regulates the video recording industry, of the passage of the Video Recordings Act when it was passed, but failed to do so.

Because the European Commission was not informed, individuals currently being prosecuted under the act will not be convicted until a new act takes effect in three months — the required timeframe for consultation with other European Union members.

"Unfortunately, the discovery of this omission means that, a quarter of a century later, the VRA (Video Recordings Act ) is no longer enforceable against individuals in United Kingdom courts," Barbara Follett, Minister for Culture and Tourism told Reuters.

Until such legislation is passed, vendors will be permitted to sell videos with pornographic and violent content to children under the age of 18.

Any person previously convicted for offenses under the VRA will not be permitted to appeal their case.

The British Video Association told Reuters that video distributors will continue to submit their works to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), and they are asking its members to comply with the guidelines on a voluntary basis.

"This is extraordinary. For 25 years retailers have been faithfully administering the system and now this happens," Britain's Entertainment Retailers Association, which represents more than 90 percent of the U.K. video market, told Reuters.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...est=latestnews

Crazy stuff, you'd think that with 'protecting the children' being such a hot issue over the past few years they would be able to do something about this without having to wait 3 months.

Regards,

Lee