Federal Department For Media Harmful To Young Persons - Legal Consequences

Legal Consequences

The legal consequences of a work being listed on the Index are enumerated in § 15 Jugendschutzgesetz (law for the protection of minors):

1. It must not be sold, provided or otherwise made accessible to minors.
2. It must not be displayed where it can be seen by minors. This would, for example, include playing an indexed game in the presence of minors.
3. It must be sold only within a shop. Basically selling indexed titles per mail order is illegal, however it is permissible if the package may be handed over only to a specified adult person, who has to present ID.
4. It must not be rented out, except in a shop inaccessible to minors. This is why most video rentals in Germany are not accessible for minors - otherwise they would not be allowed to rent out certain horror (and adult) films.
5. It must not be imported by mail order. In this case even an adult buyer is subject to penalty.
6. It must not be advertised or announced in a place where the announcement or advertisement could be seen by minors.
7. If it is for one of the above six causes, production, acquiring, and holding in store are subject to penalty too.

It is a matter of dispute whether criticism or discussion of indexed works is allowed in works that are accessible to young people. Public prosecutors have not been unanimous in this regard, but publishers tend to err on the side of safety: In the German version of Marc Saltzman's Game Design: Secret of the Sages, for example, the titles of indexed games were replaced by random strings matching only first letter and length.

Pornographic content on the internet is legal only if technical measures prohibit minors from getting access to the object (AVS = Age Verification System or Adult-Check-System).