Aftenposten, 1/22/06 - Despite a Supreme Court ruling that Norway's practice of covering graphic sexual activity in porn films and magazines with black bars needed modernizing, Norway's Media Authority ruled that movies would remain censored.

"The Supreme Court ruling was on still photographs. Our assessment concerns moving pictures," said MA director Tom Thoresen.

In December adult magazine editor Stein-Erik Mattsson was finally cleared of violating pornography laws after he provoked a legal crisis by distributing for free a special magazine edition entitled Frie Aktuelle Rapport, which contained images generally hidden behind a censorship bar.

Mattsson made his intention of testing the law clear when he also sent a copy of the magazine to all members of Norway's parliament.

While the MA is not ready to clear the way for uncensored pornographic films, they also made it clear that the depiction of sexual acts did not qualify as an automatic transgression of existing laws, and said that each case must be assessed on its own merits.

"We interpret the Supreme Court ruling such that there is no basis in changing the practice we have had in the past few years. Films with an artistic form that show explicit sexual acts have been approved at times in the past. Mass-produced pornography will not be approved," Thoresen said.

Mattsson used a sampling of approved films to convince the Supreme Court that the standard for 'non-offensive' sexuality in films had changed dramatically since the existing law was formed.

Background ...

Norway Updates Porn Laws

Aftenposten, 12/8/05 - Norway's Supreme Court cleared editor Stein-Erik Mattsson on pornography charges, ending Mattson's three-year long battle to modernize Norway's censorship practices. Importers are now gearing up to flood Norway with porn, but authorities may still keep them out.

Mattsson flouted Norway's insistence on putting black censorship bars over images of 'genitalia in action that may offend' by printing up an uncensored but far from sensational magazine called Frie Aktuell Rapport. He not only gave it away, he sent a copy to every Member of Parliament and waited for trouble.

The long legal process that resulted nearly broke Mattsson. After first being acquitted, prosecutors appealed the verdict and an appeals court found Mattsson guilty. Mattsson took the case to the Supreme Court, but having lost his job, offered to pay his fine in order to put an end to the matter.

But he had no choice once the case was on the Supreme Court agenda. Instead, he made a convincing argument, showing judges a lengthy montage of film sequences passed by Norway's board of film censors on artistic grounds that was far more disturbing than run-of-the-mill sex without bits covered.

The Supreme Court couldn't stand watching it all, and agreed that standards had changed since the law's inception.

"After a collective assessment I have concluded that the threshold for what today is deemed to be offensive - and therefore punishable - cannot be said to have been transgressed," is how first-voting Supreme Court judge Ole Bjørn Støle ruled, and the decision was unanimous.

Mattson said the ruling finally upheld his view that he had done nothing wrong by showing 'regular sex', uncovered, and he sent his thanks to Socialist Left Party politician and porn hater Lena Jensen, for bringing the original complaint against him.

Norway's porn industry is ready to open the floodgates for uncensored material, but doubts remain.

"We are waiting to push the button, first we just have to make sure exactly what is legal," said Finn Engnes, manager of Erotic Wholesales, who has so far specialized in importing sex toys, oils and lingerie. Engnes said he expects a green light and is already lining up producers from Europe and the USA.

Leif Aage Hagen, Norway's major player in the sex and porn industry in Norway, said he had been planning for this day for 30 years.

"A Norwegian version of the American "Hustler" will be launched as soon as possible, maybe already before New Year's," Hagen said.

Film channel Canal + said they had no immediate plans to drop the black bars that obscure the action on their late night erotic films.

"We interpret the ruling to apply to the printed medium and not film. We conduct ourselves according to Norwegian law and so will not be changing our programming offering because of this ruling," said Canal + managing director Bjørn Stangjordet.

Meanwhile, politicians are ready to respond by introducing new and more specific legislation to keep porn at bay. Parliamentary members of the governing coalition signaled that they would push for a new examination of censorship legislation, and they can expect the enthusiastic support of the Christian Democrats.

Supreme Court gets porn screening

Aftenposten, 11/25/05 - A long-running battle to modernize Norway's censorship laws reaches its climax next week when skin magazine editor Stein-Erik Mattsson presents evidence and arguments to the Supreme Court.

Mattsson, who published an issue of Frie Aktuell Rapport in the summer of 2002 with a lack of the black bars that Norwegian law demands be placed over depictions of active genitalia, has been trying to force a reexamination of the country's censorship laws.

Mattsson printed 13,000 copies of the magazine, which included depictions of hetero and homosexual acts, as well as an older Finnish couple in action. Besides handing the magazine out, he sent a copy to every member of parliament to provoke a reaction.

Eventually hit with a complaint and a fine, Mattsson refused to pay and has argued that Norway's sex censorship laws are outdated. He was acquitted in an Oslo court and also in an appeals trial, but authorities now want a decision from the Supreme Court.

On Tuesday Mattsson will present a 45-minute long film to the Supreme Court, but not a porn film per se, newspaper Dagsavisen reports. Mattsson's film will be a collage of sex scenes clipped out of films that have been approved by the National Board of Film Censors.

"All of these films show as many erect penises and sex organs in movement as the magazine I have been charged for," Mattsson told Dagsavisen.

The long legal battle has taken its toll on the editor, and he has lost his job. Mattsson recently tried to end the process by paying the fine, but found the case had already been scheduled for review by the Supreme Court. Now he is ready to fight on again.

"I hope the process ends here, but I am prepared to take this all the way to the human rights tribunal in Strasbourg. This is about freedom of speech," Mattsson said.

Uncensored porn on the way

Aftenposten, 6/3/05 - Controversial magazine editor Stein-Erik Mattsson believes that the black 'censored' bar used in Norwegian magazines and on television screens to blot out graphic sexual imagery is now finally dead after the appeals phase of his landmark trial.

Borgarting Court of Appeals rejected the state's attempt to try to overturn Mattsson's acquittal on pornography charges for distributing an uncensored issue of Frie Aktuell Rapport.

"In practice this means the repeal of the general ban on porn in paragraph 204 of the criminal code," Mattsson said.

Mattson was charged in March 2004 for violating Norwegian pornography laws after he published an uncensored issue of his skin magazine in the summer of 2002.

Trying to provoke a public debate on censorship and modern definitions of pornography, Mattsson gave away part of the 13,000 print run in downtown Oslo and mailed a copy to every member of Norway's parliament, the Storting.

Socialist Left Party representative Lena Jensen filed charges and after Mattsson refused to pay a levied fine of NOK 25,000 (USD 3,880) the case finally went to the courts.

Oslo Municipal Court ruled that the uncovered pictures could not be viewed as criminally offensive and based their decision on, among other things, that the images showed persons over the age of 18 taking part in voluntary sexual acts.

"This is a historic victory in the over one hundred year long struggle to allow healthy, erotic pictures in Norway. That it comes in (Christian Democrat Kjell Magne) Bondevik's term of office is an extra joy," Mattson said.

Trial to define pornography continues

Aftenposten, 2/19/04 - An Oslo court is handling a case that the accused provoked in order to redefine the legal concept of pornography in Norway. Stein-Erik Mattson, chief editor of skin magazine Aktuell Rapport, stands accused of distributing up to 13,000 free copies of a special edition which he gave away to spark a debate on Norwegian laws.

Mattson succeeded with his stunt in the summer of 2002 and is now standing trial. His special issue, which featured the removal of black censor bars over the harder images, is now a legal test case, and the trial has featured a parade of expert witnesses.

Professor Barbara Gentikow took the stand on Thursday as an expert defense witness and called the black censor bar 'one of the strangest results of Norwegian pornography law'.

"The boundaries of pornography are constantly moving in step with society. Today's media savvy people must be assumed to tolerate quite strong impressions without being harmed by them," Gentikow said.

Mattson is charged with violating criminal paragraph 204, which prohibits offensive depiction of sexual acts. Gentikow argued that it was important to reexamine this interpretation at regular intervals.

"The definition of the word offensive must be constantly renegotiated by society. It is not an objective or normative criterion," Gentikow said.

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