Film Age Rating

To get a rating for a film you have to go through the BBFC who watch and classify the films before release, unlike other legislations like OF-COM they can do something before the release of the film. The British Board Of Film Classification is an non government independent body which was set up in 1912. The BBFC is in place to protect people, in paticular children.
They may reject a film if it is not in line with the UK Legislation requirements. An example of this was The   Exorcist which was released in 1970, the film was so vile and gruesome it was banned from being shown, and wasn't re-released until 25 years later when the film had been "toned" down and still today it isn't being allowed to be released on DVD.

The BBFC looks at legislation and acts and works alongside them, these are all on the bbfc website.

www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/the-bbfc-uk-law

They may also ban or alter categories of films exhibited under their own licensing jurisdiction. The BBFC has set guidelines and the last set was published in June 2009.