New Zealand Gazette – 1991 – No. 83

Page 1822

✨ Indecent Publications Tribunal Decisions



NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

No. 83

Decision

No. Date Title Publisher Importer Applicant Decision
6/91 30/4/91 Clive Barker’ Hell Raiser, Book 2 Epic Comics Mark One Comics and Games Comptroller of Customs Not indecent

Category B: Explanatory Note:

Having applied the criteria in section 11 as well as the test for indecency in section 2, it was the Tribunal’s finding that the following publications were unconditionally indecent regardless of whether or not they were likely to be read by children. Because of this finding, it was unnecessary to consider the application of section 11 (3). Whether section 10 (b) or section 11 (3) was applied to these publications, they have been classified unconditionally indecent.

Decision No. Date Title Publisher Importer Applicant Decision
6/91 30/4/91 Click Catalan Communications M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs UI
6/91 30/4/91 Sexy Stories from the World’s Religions, No. 1 Last Gasp ECO Funnies M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs UI
6/91 30/4/91 Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde Catalan Communications M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs UI
6/91 30/4/91 Sapphire, No. 4 Aircel Comics M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs UI

Category C: Explanatory Note:

Having applied the criteria in section 11 as well as the test for indecency in section 2, it was the Tribunal’s finding that the following publications were indecent in the hands of persons under the age of 18 years in some cases, and indecent in the hands of persons under the age of 18 years in other cases. However, having taken into account considerations of physical availability and the factors which indicated the likely psychological attractiveness of these comics to children, it was the Tribunal’s finding that these publications were not likely to be read by children. The drawings in most of these publications did not contain colour and were very complex. The texts contained a great number of words which described situations of no interest to children. While the majority of these publications depicted acts of violence and sex, there was not dwelling on them with intention, overt or covert, to titillate. They did not form the dominant effect of these publications. Because of this finding, one of the conditions for the application of section 11 (3), that a picture-story book must be likely to be read by children, was not met. Section 11 (3) consequently did not apply to deem these publications unconditionally indecent. These publications were therefore classified under section 10 (b) in the normal way.

Decision No. Date Title Publisher Importer Applicant Decision
6/91 30/4/91 Faust Act 5, Vol. 1, No. 5 Northstar Productions M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs R18
6/91 30/4/91 Human Diasrophism Titan Books M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs R16
6/91 30/4/91 Hup, No. 3 Last Gasp M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs R18
6/91 30/4/91 Shorts Catalan Communications M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs R16
6/91 30/4/91 Zap, No. 11 Last Gasp M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs R18
6/91 30/4/91 Zap, No. 12 Last Gasp M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs R18
6/91 30/4/91 Big Black Kiss, Book 2 Vortex Comics M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs R18
6/91 30/4/91 Faust Act 3, Vol. 1, No. 3 Northstar Productions M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs R18
6/91 30/4/91 Faust Act 4, Vol. 1, No. 4 Northstar Productions M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs R18
6/91 30/4/91 Firkin, No. 3 Knockabout Comics M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs R16
6/91 30/4/91 Taboo, No. 3 Spiderbaby Grafix Publications M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs R16
6/91 30/4/91 Faust Act 6, Vol. 1, No. 6 Northstar Productions M. J. Mortiaux Comptroller of Customs R18

Category D: Explanatory Note:

A category to be known as Category D was devised for publications which were likely to be read by children, but which were not indecent in the hands of children under a specified age. Section 11 (3) consequently did not apply because one of the conditions for the application of section 11 (3), that a picture-story book be indecent in the hands of children under a specified age, was not met. The normal section 10 (b) classifications therefore could be made. The type of publication which would likely be read by children and which would not be indecent in their hands is the normal sort of comic aimed at children. Titles such as Mickey Mouse and the “superhero” comics would fall within this category. Because all of the comics in the present applications are clearly intended for adults and deal largely with matters of sex and violence, none of them fell into this category.



Next Page →

PDF embedding disabled (Crown copyright)

View this page online at:


VUW Te Waharoa — PDF NZ Gazette 1991, No 83


NZLII — PDF NZ Gazette 1991, No 83




✨ LLM interpretation of page content

⚖️ Indecent Publications Tribunal Decision (continued from previous page)

⚖️ Justice & Law Enforcement
Indecent Publications Act 1963, Tribunal Decision, Publications, Not Indecent

⚖️ Publications classified as unconditionally indecent

⚖️ Justice & Law Enforcement
Indecent Publications, Tribunal Decision, Unconditionally Indecent

⚖️ Publications classified as restricted

⚖️ Justice & Law Enforcement
Indecent Publications, Tribunal Decision, Restricted Publications

⚖️ Explanation of Category D for child-friendly publications

⚖️ Justice & Law Enforcement
Indecent Publications, Tribunal Decision, Child-Friendly Publications