Kinematograph year book (1944)

132 The Kinematograph Year Book. (4) If any person who is required to keep a book under this section fails to keep the book in accordance with the requirements of this section or to record any particular therein in accordance with those requirements, or fails to produce the book on demand for inspection by any person entitled to inspect it, or prevents or attempts to prevent the inspection of the book by any person so entitled, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds. (13) . — Relief from liability for quota offences in circumstances beyond control of renter or exhibitor. (1) If, upon application made to them, the Board of Trade are satisfied that any failure on the part of a person to fulfil any relevant quota conditions was due to circumstances beyond his control, the Board may issue a certificate to that effect : Provided that, where any application is made under this subsection to the Board, they shall, before determining the application, consult the Cinematograph Films Council and consider its advice in the matter. (2) For the purposes of this Part of this Act, a failure on the part of a person to fulfil any relevant quota conditions shall be deemed to have been due to circumstances beyond the control of that person if, owing to the character of the films available or to the excessive cost of such films, it was not commercially practicable to fulfil those conditions, but, in the case of a renter, shall be deemed not to have been due to circumstances beyond his control if it was commercially practicable for him to fulfil those conditions by making, or arranging for the making of, the necessary films. (14) . — Provisions as to cases where distribution rights in respect of films pass on renters going out of business. (1) Where, in any renters' quota period, a person being the holder of a renter's licence for the time being in force has ceased to carry on business as a renter in Great Britain, and, in consequence of the cessation, the right to distribute in any country or area a film to which this Act applies, and which that renter had acquired in that period for distribution in that country or area, passes in that period, by assignment or will or by operation of law, from the said person to some other person being the holder of such a licence, then, subject to the provisions of the following subsection, the firstmentioned person shall, for the purposes of the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to renters' quotas, be deemed never to have acquired the film for distribution in that country or area, or delivered the film to an exhibitor for public exhibition. (2) If, in relation to any such assignment as is mentioned in the preceding subsection, it appears to the Board of Trade that the assignment was made with a view to the evasion of any of the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to renters' quotas, the Board may direct that the said subsection shall not apply in relation to that assignment. (15) . — Power of Board of Trade to alter quotas by order. (1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, the Board of Trade, after consulting the Cinematograph Films Council and considering its advice in the matter, may, not later than the end of June nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, lay before Parliament the draft of an order altering either or both of the proportions prescribed by Part II of the First Schedule to this Act for the year beginning with the first day of October nineteen hundred and thirty-nine ; and if, before the end of July nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, each House of Parliament has resolved that the order be made, the Board shall forthwith make the order in terms of the draft, and the order shall come into operation upon the making thereof. (2) Subject to the provisions of the next following subsection, the Board of Trade, after consulting the Cinematograph Films Council and considering its advice in the matter, — (a) may, at any time during the year nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, lay before Parliament the draft of an order altering, either generally or in relation only to long films or short films, all or any of the proportions prescribed by Part I of the First Schedule to this Act for the year beginning with the first day of April nineteen hundred and forty and the next succeeding year, or prescribed by Part II of the said Schedule for the year beginning with the first day of October nineteen hundred and forty and the next succeeding year, and (b) may, at any time during the year nineteen hundred and forty-one, lay before Parliament the draft of an order altering as aforesaid all or any of the proportions prescribed by Part I of the said Schedule for the year beginning with the first day of April nineteen hundted and fortytwo and the next two succeeding years, or prescribed by Part II of the said Schedule for the year beginning with the first day of October nineteen hundred and forty-two and the next two succeeding years, and (c) may, at any time during the year nineteen hundred and forty-four, lay before Parliament the draft of an order altering as aforesaid all or any of the proportions prescribed by Part I of the said Schedule for the year beginning with the first day of April nineteen hundred and forty-five and the two succeeding years, or prescribed by Part II of the said Schedule for the year beginning with the first day of October nineteen hundred and forty-five and the two succeeding years • and if, before the end of the calendar year in which the draft of such an order is laid before Parliament each House of Parliament has resolved that the order be made, the Board shall forthwith make the order in terms of the draft, and the order shall come into operation upon the making thereof.