Selling R18 dvd's can I register my site abroad although I live in the UK

[pkerr500]

Hello,

I've set up a stand alone internet .com site that sells various items including adult R18 dvd titles.
This is just internet based and I do not have or ever intend to have an shop or office outlet.
I live in the UK and have discovered that here it is Illegal to sell R18 dvd's online from within the UK. (they are only allowed to be sold in person from liscensed shops).
I have also discovered that any internet site 'registered' as being based outside the UK can sell to UK and other European customers alike without being in breach of the law as only the UK (within Europe) has this particular restriction on the sale of R18 dvd titles.

My question therefore is "Can anyone advise me....

1) Can I 'register' my internet site as trading from ( eg. Ireland or Spain )etc.? So as to be complying with this UK law, even though I obviously live in the UK and will continue to service my website from there (in practice)

2) In practical terms what will 'registering' my internet .com website involve? - as I usually think of its exsistance as a virtual one in cybersapce (incidentally the site is hosted on a server based in the US if this matters at all).

PS : I have put a lot of time and effort in this project and would greatly appreciate any advise or experience you can share with me in regard to finding a solution to this tricky problem.?

Many thanks in advance

Peter

 

[Echo's]

i'm pretty sure the purchase has to be made outside of the uk ie site hosted outside of uk and payment taken outside of uk.

you may be better off using an affiliate site.

 

[dataferret]

The law on R18 DVD sales is a bit of a grey area but the minute you transact business from within the UK you are breaking the law. Put simply this means you would need to set up the website on a non UK server, have a non-uk merchant account with all financial transactions taking place outside of the UK, then have the goods shipped in to the UK directly to your client from outside of the UK. Even your domain name must be non UK specific.

If you set up a co.uk website, you are stating you are a transacting business as a UK firm. For tax purposes then it can be argued your "centre of commerce" is the UK and hence you would be subject to UK legislation. I know it sounds daft because R18 Cert films are legally classified by the BBFC but the offence occurs when you sell them within the UK (or are deemed to have your "centre of commerce" within the UK". Clearly the law does not make sense because anyone from outside of the UK can post the same materials into the UK quite legally.

PABO (UK) recetly lost a court action against them launched by Liverpool Trading Standards because they were selling R18 films to the UK market, had offices in the UK but the goods were shipped in from abroad. They were deemed to be a UK company and were found at fault, given hefty penalties and closed down their UK operation and shifted it back abroad.

Another case involved an affilliate who had everything transacted abroad but because the business was a co.uk and money came into a UK Bank account, courts ruled the affilliate was at fault and liable for legal penalties.

Much of this information can be found on a website called Outlaw.com who monitor the lawas pertaining to the adult industry (and others).

 

[Nicole.S]

You could setup your business in an offshore jurisdiction+payment gateway to process orders from UK+Europe.

 

[pkerr500]

i'm pretty sure the purchase has to be made outside of the uk ie site hosted outside of uk and payment taken outside of uk.

you may be better off using an affiliate site.

Hi Echo,

Many thanks for taking time to reply and for this simply clarity.

Cheers..Peter

 

[pkerr500]

The law on R18 DVD sales is a bit of a grey area but the minute you transact business from within the UK you are breaking the law. Put simply this means you would need to set up the website on a non UK server, have a non-uk merchant account with all financial transactions taking place outside of the UK, then have the goods shipped in to the UK directly to your client from outside of the UK. Even your domain name must be non UK specific.

If you set up a co.uk website, you are stating you are a transacting business as a UK firm. For tax purposes then it can be argued your "centre of commerce" is the UK and hence you would be subject to UK legislation. I know it sounds daft because R18 Cert films are legally classified by the BBFC but the offence occurs when you sell them within the UK (or are deemed to have your "centre of commerce" within the UK". Clearly the law does not make sense because anyone from outside of the UK can post the same materials into the UK quite legally.

PABO (UK) recetly lost a court action against them launched by Liverpool Trading Standards because they were selling R18 films to the UK market, had offices in the UK but the goods were shipped in from abroad. They were deemed to be a UK company and were found at fault, given hefty penalties and closed down their UK operation and shifted it back abroad.

Another case involved an affilliate who had everything transacted abroad but because the business was a co.uk and money came into a UK Bank account, courts ruled the affilliate was at fault and liable for legal penalties.

Much of this information can be found on a website called Outlaw.com who monitor the lawas pertaining to the adult industry (and others).

Wow [FONT=&quot]Dataferret,
That was a full and complete responce, not all good news I must confess! however clear and concise and will save me a lot of potentially wasted time searching for solutions and/or short cuts that clearly don't exsist (or are at very least extremly risky).
I am still fully digesting you're reply at this point and its implications for my business project, it was fantastric to get such a detailed and well referenced reply, especially as I'm new to using forums.
Many thanks again...and I may yet come back to you later today for some final clarity if I can imagine a realistic way forward for my project at this point.

Peter.


[/FONT]

 

[Ali-v-8]

don't mean to sound like an idiot but R18 is that the equivalent of a uk 18.
Why is it illegal to sell that in the UK or is R18 Above UK 18

 

[Echo's]

R18 are hardcore!! not illegal but you do need to be licensed.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Wonder how it stands for the people who promote the website.
I have a technique which allows multiple page displays from one website.

 

[b1gbruv]

Hi I understand the grey area regarding selling R18's in the UK via the internet.But can you tell me the situation regarding selling DVD'S online to Ireland. My website is based in Ireland but money and shipping would be done from UK. Many thanks

 

[dataferret]

Hi I understand the grey area regarding selling R18's in the UK via the internet.But can you tell me the situation regarding selling DVD'S online to Ireland. My website is based in Ireland but money and shipping would be done from UK. Many thanks

If you are transacting business in the UK (i.e. payments are accepted in a UK Bank account), your "Centre of Commerce" is deemed to be the UK and you are subject to UK legislation. It does not matter which non-uk country your website is based, you would still be transacting money from within the UK.

If you could open a Bank account in Southern Ireland and accept payments into a non-uk account from a non-uk based website, plus ship the items into the uk from a non-uk country then you "should" be fine. If not then you would be breaking one or more laws and could be liable for prosecution.

 

[b1gbruv]

Ok Just to re-cap. If the bank account is in Southern Ireland or outside the UK and the website is served from outside the UK, then it should be OK to send the DVDS to Ireland from the UK.

Or do they have to be sent from outside the UK?

If they do have to be sent from outside then UK then say I sent them from Southern Ireland would I be breaking any laws in Ireland?

Many thanks for your time

 

[dataferret]

Ok Just to re-cap. If the bank account is in Southern Ireland or outside the UK and the website is served from outside the UK, then it should be OK to send the DVDS to Ireland from the UK.

Or do they have to be sent from outside the UK?

If they do have to be sent from outside then UK then say I sent them from Southern Ireland would I be breaking any laws in Ireland?

Many thanks for your time

As I understand it they have to be sent from outside of the UK so sending them from Southern Ireland should keep you within the UK law. Not sure about the laws in Southern Ireland regarding R18 DVDs but as far as I know they fall under EU legislation. You would need to do your own checks on this and when you find out please post back in this thread. I would be interested to know.