Revised regulations under 18 U.S.C. 2257, which were approved by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on May 17, have just been published in the Federal Register. The publication includes both the regulations themselves plus several pages of explanation as to why certain suggestions for changes to the revised regulations, first published on June 24, 2004, and certain comments on those regulations were accepted and why others were rejected.
The revised regulations will take effect on June 23 and will place legal duties on nearly everyone involved in any way in the creation, production, publication and in some cases distribution, both physically and electronically, of material depicting "actual sexually explicit conduct."
"Everyone who deals with sexually-oriented material, even those who believe that they're not affected by record-keeping and labeling regulations, is strongly advised to consult a good First Amendment attorney before trying to interpret these new regulations for themselves," advised H. Louis Sirkin, a 25-year veteran of First Amendment defense. "Fortunately, Free Speech Coalition is going to be looking into filing actions challenging portions of the regulations, both on the east and west coasts, as quickly as we can, but producers should be aware that enforcement of the regulations is likely to be swift."
The new regulations contain some major changes from both the original regulations covering material produced after July 3, 1995, and from the revised version published last summer.
"Note that the comments by the Justice Department specifically reject Sundance Associates v. Reno," notes Roger Wilcox, of Lipsitz, Green, Fahringer, Roll & Cambria, preliminarily. "Good luck to everyone who chose not to keep records in reliance on Sundance. Justice has also kept July 3, 1995, as the starting date for record-keeping obligations, and it appears that wholly electronic record-keeping will be permitted under the new rules."
AVN will be consulting legal experts throughout the day on this vitally important story. Look for an update later today.
