The Swedish government has announced they’re putting an end to official film censorship and that they’ll be shutting down the country’s board of film censors, Statens Biografbyra, in 2011. After this time any movie will be allowed to be released in Sweden without having to go past any official body, as long as it doesn’t contravene other laws (e.g. it’s not child pornography).
There’ll still be a board to give movie age ratings (General, 7, 11 and 15), but any movie can opt for a 15 certificate and forgo official scrutiny.
For many years, Statens Biografbyra, has largely acted as a ratings angecy, last asking for cuts to a major film in 1995 with Scorses’s Casino, while only two movies have been banned since 1997, both of which mixed hardcore pornogrpahy with violence. However the government has now decided to make the change official by getting rid of censorship altogether.