The plot thickens ... Fallout 3 importation rules

News from Yug - Monday, 21 July 2008 @ 3:06pm

Obviously, the recent news about Fallout 3 being refused classification in Australia due to certain people has been a hot topic as of late, dare I say prompting even more interest than the lackluster affair that was E3 this year. Of course - being proud Australian Gamers - we are used to overpriced games, frustratingly late product launches, games released months after the rest of the world, and of course - the lack of an R18+ rating for games. And we usually get around pretty much all of these issues by importing our games.

However, in light of Fallout 3, the question has been raised regarding the legal ramifications of importing games that have been refused classification. So I thought it best to go straight to the source, and questioned a Senior Customs Officer at Australian Customs. More details after the link. What sparked this more than anything was my new friend Andy Chalk from The Escapist, who has taken an interest in our plight, and sent me this link. In this document, there are two particular points of interest, the first one being this: So, there you have it. And this was also confirmed by the Senior Customs Officer I spoke to, who told me "if they are refused classification they are deemed to be prohibited imports". When I pressed him as to what the repercussions of this would be if you went ahead and tried to import it anyway, he told me "Generally, Customs will seize the goods." So that's good news at least, to anyone afraid they might have had to do hard time. I'm not finished though. There was another very interesting part to the document that caught my eye: Now, does anyone else find it slightly strange that they choose to define an objectionable game as something unsuitable for anyone under the age of 18? Considering we don't have a rating system for games that goes that high, isn't that a little contradictory? The question then, in my mind, is if a game hasn't been refused classification in Australia, but has been given a rating of M17+ in the USA, is it then completely legal to import that game? I'm still waiting on an answer to that one. Mind you, according to the website Refused-Classification.com, the last time they had heard of a game that had been refused classification in Australia being seized by customs, was when 6 copies of Grand Theft Auto III (back when it was banned) were confiscated in November 2001 Personally, I hardly think video games are high on the customs hit list of items to keep out of Australia, but the fact remains that it's currently not legal to import games that have a Refused Classification status. Stay tuned as we find out more details and, potentially, a solution.