WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Federal Register website has posted the government's new revisions to the 2257 recordkeeping law to take effect on Jan. 17, three days before the inauguration of President Obama.
Nearly 18 months have gone by since the Justice Department published its proposed revisions to the law. While it will take some time to ferret out all of the new requirements, one item that remains unchanged from the original 2257 and 2257A proposals is this language:
"Congress determined it would be appropriate, in certain circumstances, to exempt producers of visual depictions of lascivious exhibition (for which records must be kept under section 2257, as amended by the Act) and producers of visual depictions of simulated sexually explicit conduct (for which records must be kept under section 2257A) from statutory requirements otherwise applicable to such visual depictions."
In other words, despite the fact that adult producers are more careful than their Hollywood counterparts in making sure that minors are not involved in either actual or simulated sexual conduct, the mainstream entertainment industry will still get a free ride around recordkeeping (and, perhaps more importantly for Big Name Producers, labeling) simply by filing a notice with the Justice Department.
The Federal Register will publish the revised regs Thursday. A 169-page document detailing the revisions to the 2257 and 2257A regs is available from the Federal Register's website.
Check back later for further analysis of this vitally important development.
