Film Censorship Act 2002 · Updated to 1 Jan 2006 · Part VI
40. Forfeiture of film, etc., seized
Feedback & supportAny film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing seized under this Act shall be liable to forfeiture.
film
“film” includes the original or duplicate of the whole or any part of— (a) a cinematograph film; and (b) a videotape, diskette, laser disc, compact disc, hard disc and other record, of a sequence of visual images, being a record capable of being used as a means of showing that sequence as a moving picture, whether or not accompanied by sound;
An order for the forfeiture or for the release of any film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing seized under this Act shall be made by the court before which the prosecution with regard to it has been held.
film-publicity material
“film-publicity material” includes the original or duplicate of the whole or any part of a picture, photograph, poster, figure, handbill, slide, newspaper advertisement and any other form of advertisement printed or recorded on any material and intended to publicise a film;
An order for forfeiture under subsection (2) shall be made if it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act has been committed and that the film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing was the subject-matter of or used in the commission of the offence, even though no person has been convicted of such offence.
25
Film Censorship
If there is no prosecution with regard to any film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing seized under this
Act, such film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing shall be taken and deemed to be forfeited at the expiration of a period of one calendar month from the date of service of a notice to the last-known address of the person from whom the film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing was seized indicating that there is no prosecution in respect of such film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing, unless before the expiration of that period a claim thereto is made in the manner set out in subsections (5), (6), (7) and (8).
Any person asserting that he is the owner of the film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing referred to in subsection (4) and that it is not liable to forfeiture may personally or by his agent authorized in writing, give written notice to the
owner
“owner”, in relation to a film or film-publicity material, means— (a) a person who is entitled to the possession of the film or film-publicity material whether it is made or produced in Malaysia or imported from outside Malaysia; or (b) any person who has the film or film-publicity material in his control, possession or ownership at the time in question;
Enforcement Officer or police officer in whose possession such film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing is held that he claims the film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing.
Enforcement Officer
“Enforcement Officer” means an Enforcement Officer appointed under section 29 and includes an Assistant Enforcement Officer and a Junior Enforcement Officer;
On receipt of the notice referred to in subsection (5), the
Enforcement Officer or the police officer shall refer the matter to a Magistrate for a decision.
police officer
“police officer” means a police officer, as defined under the Police Act 1967, not below the rank of an Inspector;
The Magistrate to whom a matter is referred under subsection
shall issue a summons requiring the person asserting that he is the owner of the film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing and the person from whom it was seized to appear before the Magistrate, and when they appear or when they fail to appear, due service of the summons having been proved, the
Magistrate shall proceed to examine the matter.
If it is proved that an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act has been committed and that the film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing referred to in subsection (7) was the subject-matter of or was used in the commission of such offence, the Magistrate shall order the film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing to be forfeited and shall, in the absence of such proof, order its release.
Any film, film-publicity material, book, document or other thing forfeited or deemed to be forfeited shall be delivered to an
Enforcement Officer or a police officer and shall be disposed of in accordance with the directions of the Magistrate.
26