The Video Standards Council (VSC), also known as the ''VSC Rating Board'', is an administrator of the

PEGI PEGI () or Pan-European Game Information is a European video game content rating system established to help European consumers make informed decisions when buying video games or apps through the use of age recommendations and content descript ...

system of age rating for video games. It was established in 1989, originally with the purpose of enforcing the

Video Recordings Act 1984 The Video Recordings Act 1984 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was passed in 1984. It states that commercial video recordings offered for sale or for hire within the UK must carry a classification that has been agreed upon ...

and educating retailers on its requirements. It has been statutorily responsible for the age ratings of

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s sold in the United Kingdom since 2012. The organisation is accountable to the

Department of Culture, Media and Sport , type = Department , logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Gove ...

History

The VSC was established in 1989 following concerns from then

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...

Douglas Hurd Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, (born 8 March 1930) is a British Conservative Party politician who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1979 to 1995. A career diplomat and political secretary to P ...

regarding the enforcement of the

. The organisation designed a code of practise to ensure that the recorded video and

industries delivered their products to the public responsibly, as well as providing

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and Service (economics), services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturing, manufacturers, dire ...

s with staff training courses concerning the supply of age restricted videos, DVDs and video games. In 1994, the VSC first began administrating the age ratings of video games sold within the UK. Initially, they worked on behalf of the UK Interactive Entertainment Association (formerly ELSPA) via a voluntary system of game ratings which most publishers adopted. In 2003, the ELSPA ratings were replaced by the Pan European Game Information

system. The VSC continues today to administrate the PEGI system alongside NICAM (

Netherlands Institute for the Classification of Audiovisual Media Netherlands Institute for the Classification of Audiovisual Media (Nederlands Instituut voor de Classificatie van Audiovisuele Media) is the institute responsible for the content given for review for the Dutch motion picture rating system, Kij ...

); NICAM classifying games for ages 3 to 7, and the VSC classifying games for ages 12 and above. In 2012, the government removed the responsibility of the

British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...

(BBFC) to rate video games except those containing strong pornographic content, passing responsibility to the VSC. At the same time, the PEGI system was incorporated into

UK law The United Kingdom has four legal systems, each of which derives from a particular geographical area for a variety of historical reasons: English and Welsh law, Scots law, Northern Ireland law, and, since 2007, purely Welsh law (as a result o ...

. Since then, the VSC has been the statutory body responsible for the age rating of video games in the UK. From 2012 to 2017, the VSC branded the arm of their organisation fulfilling this responsibility as the Games Rating Authority. This branding was scrapped in 2017, and the new title of the VSC Rating Board adopted, to make it clearer that it was a division of the VSC rather than a separate entity. The VSC Rating Board also rates games for at least 30 other European countries.

References

External links

Official website
Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1989 Video gaming in the United Kingdom Video game censorship British Board of Film Classification Mass media companies {{europe-org-stub