egafd.com

(no I am not having an epileptic fit)
Letter I received ...

Notice of Seizure
Indecent And Obscene Material

The items described below are liable to forfeiture(see 1 below) because:-
* they are considered to be indecent or obscene and are therefore prohibited from importation(see 2 below), or
* they were found with material considered to be indecent or obscene(see 3 below)
They have therefore been seized(see 4 below).

If you claim the items are not liable to forfeiture you must tell us in writing, giving your full name and address. This claim must be received at any customs & Excise office within one month of the date above (see 1 below).
We are then required to institute proceedings for a court to decide the matter. These are civil proceedings concerned only with liability of the items.
If you do not claim, we will dispose of the items.
You should note that to be knowingly concerned in importing prohibited items is a Customs offence which could lead to criminal proceedings. A conviction in such proceedings may result in heavy financial penalities and, in certain cases, imprisonment.
If ypu are in any doubt about the effect of this notice, you should consult the office named above or, if you prefer, a solicitor.

Particulars of items Seized
From The Netherlands
Quantity and Description one x DVD: Fist & Piss Partners
(web address of item)




The Law
1. Schedule 3 to the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.
2. Section 42 of the Customs Consolidation Act 1876.
3. Sections 49(1)(b) and 141(1) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.
4. Section 139(6) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 and paragraph 1 of schedule 3 to the Act.

I am going to deny I knew these items were 'obscene' (the BBFC have cut fisting scene which 'potentially contravene current interpretation of the Obscene Publications'
Potentially they also do not contravene the obscene publications act.

In terms of pissing , I will cite '16/03/2001 BARELY LEGAL #2 and
16/03/2001 BARELY LEGAL #1' which both include pissing.

Now this REALLY is the Violation of Joe KIng!

You can appeal against the seizure order at the mags court (civil case) but if you lose you may have to pay a couple of hundred quid in costs. There is some stuff about this in the archives at melonfarmers.

The first stage is to write a letter to c and e to say I disagree with their decision. They would review their decision and tell me of the outcome. Then if I still want to pursue the case then it starts costing money.

Well good luck. Let us know what happens.

Fisting contravenes import guidelines, so it's not all that surprising they seized this. It will be down to this rather than the pissing. You won't win as they seize according to what goes under R18 and fisting is listed as not doing. And the fact that it is cut by the BBFC means you have no chance whatsoever I'm afraid.

items on melonfarmers seem to say that the bbfc has not a lot to do with what c and e stop or let in.

Nice one Joe! If more people had the backbone to stand up to the establishment we wouldn't be in this unsatisfactory halfway house between full legalisation and partial prohibition. They can only push us about if we let them. And hey, let's not forget that they work for us. We pay their wages!

A word of encouragement. A colleague brought a bag full of visual erotica back from Belgium last year. This was promptly seized by customs and a similar smug notice was issued inviting him metaphorically step outside if he didn't like it - i.e., challenge them in court. Obviously, they assumed that all the British public were supine cap dothers and terrified of uniforms. But my colleague was pissed at their arrogance, pissed that he was being dictated to, and pissed that he was being slapped on the wrist and then having his ball taken away, like some naughty child! So, he promptly got onto his brief and instructed him to challenge this outrage against his freedom.

The upshot was that a number of letters were exchanged, but none of the parties blinked. Till the eve of the court case - when, surprise, surprise, Customs phoned my pal?s brief to say they were a bit busy next day so had decided not to defend their case. My pal could have his movies back and that would be that.

Like all bullies they backed down when they saw that they couldn't intimidate my pal with their uniforms, official language, veiled threats of fines and even incarceration. The main reason they backed down though was that if they had gone into that court and lost the case it would have meant that UK citizens could bring most any visual erotica back to the UK with then that material was legal in the EU.

Dibble.

Technicaly the bbfc guidelines are nowt to do with C&E who are more concerned with obscenity as defined by the hardly ever used OPA. If you can find a case where fisting has been found not guilty in an obscenity trial this would be good evidence for the appeal. I think there have been a number of "not guiltys" for pissing but the police prefer not to tell the bbfc this. A lack of communication between police/Home Office, bbfc and C&E means they are all using different rule books.

The whole thing is a bloody mess.

PLEASE don't do nothing Joe.

As Dibble points out (LOVE the name incidentally, Officer...) the type of guy who applies for a job with C&E is a bully who wants to hide behind the most draconian authority in the Land.

- But, their days of make-it-up-as-you-go censorship are numbered, and they know it. The LAST thing they want is some prim middle-aged lady magistrate with a passion for being fisted to say "Take it home Joe and ENJOY!".

- In fact they don't want to go to court on any consensual adult stuff, in case it raises the beast of Human Rights. They'd all be out of a job. Perhaps you should remind them of that.

As I understand it, the matter that would be considered in Court is not whether the BBFC guidelines (which are pretty ambiguous in some areas, such as female ejaculation) permit what is shown on your DVD, but whether it contravenes the law - Is it obscene and likely to corrupt or deprave the reasonable guy on the Clapham omnibus?

not totally on-topic to this thread, but I've seen this website before - www.aahsex.com, but not ordered from them. Does anyone have experience of them good or bad and is there a regular problem with customs from them? They seem to have a lot of difficult to get films, and they're pretty cheap.