Prohibition of Video Games
Congreso Nacional
- Decree: 205-2002
- Published: December 5, 2002
- Issuing body: Congreso Nacional
- Category: Civil & Family
- Type: Other
Summary
This decree prohibits the importation, sale, and distribution of specific violent and pornographic video games (such as Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, and others) in Honduras. It aims to protect children from content that affects their moral, physical, and psychological development. The Ministry of Governance and Justice oversees compliance with assistance from child protection organizations.
Considerations
Whereas it is the duty of the State to ensure the integral development of children considered individually, and to ensure that there do not circulate among them: videos, television programs or computer programs, or other visual or audiovisual media in which images or content appear that promote violence, or induce perversion, degradation and delinquency, or affect their physical, psychological or moral development.
Whereas play represents for children a very important stage of adult life that determines vocational inclinations, tendencies, tastes and addictions.
Whereas Teacher Education has a preponderant role in the development of services, and for this reason beginning in 2003 the application of new study modalities called Sciences with Orientation in Education, Bachelor of Science with Orientation in Plastic Arts and/or Music was initiated, which are currently being taught in certain educational centers in the country, with Study Plans that are developed on an experimental basis.
Whereas upon presenting new study alternatives on the part of this Secretariat of State, these new modalities have had good acceptance by parents and the student population of the country.
Whereas in order to facilitate the implementation of these new study modalities, it is necessary to regulate and standardize the procedures applicable to the modalities described above.
Whereas the Secretariat of State in the Office of Education has as one of its Educational Policies the improvement of the quality of services it provides to the Nation.
Articles
To prohibit the importation, sale, public and private exhibition, or any other form of dissemination of the following video games and programs: Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, Turck, The House of the Dead, Duke Nukem, Shadowman, Quake, Instint Killer, Doom, The Legacy of Kain, Street Fighter, Perfect Dark, among others that incite violence and pornography.
This measure covers updated variations or new editions of the same and their enumeration is not exclusive.
The Secretariat of State in the Offices of Governance and Justice shall be the Institution responsible for supervising the faithful compliance of this Decree, with the assistance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Honduran Institute for Children and the Family (IHNFA), the Fiscal Office for Children, the Association of Municipalities of Honduras (AMHON), and, in default thereof, the Municipalities and other institutions working for childhood, for which purpose they shall be convened by the Honduran Institute for Children and the Family (IHNFA).
The Executive Power through the Secretariat of State in the Offices of Governance and Justice shall regulate this Decree within forty (40) days following its entry into force.
This Decree shall enter into force as of the date of its publication in the Official Journal La Gaceta. Done in the city of Tegucigalpa, municipality of the Central District, in the Session Hall of the National Congress, on the fifth day of the month of December of two thousand two.
Related laws
- Decreto Legislativo No. 8-2002 — Prohibición de importación, venta y exhibición de videojuegos y programas que incitan a la violencia (Decree 8-2002, 2008)
- Agreement 61-2007 Regulations for Decree 8-2002-e — This law prohibits importing, selling, and displaying violent video games such as Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, and Duke Nukem in Honduras to protect children and youth. It affects video rental stores, television companies, and distributors, who must destroy prohibited material. It creates a supervision committee to monitor compliance and imposes fines on those who violate the ban. (Decree 8-2002, 2002)
- Acuerdo Ministerial No. 288-2017 — Rectificación del Acuerdo Ministerial No. 5478 relativo a Comisión Especial de Evaluación para Licitación Pública Nacional No. 018-2016-SS — This agreement corrects the composition of the Special Evaluation Commission that selects candidates for Honduras' Attorney General. It changes the names of some committee members responsible for reviewing proposals for cleaning services in Ministry of Health hospitals during 2017, ensuring the commission is properly constituted as required by law. (Decree 288-2017, 2017)
- Decree No. 029-2020 by which the maximum price of essential products and raw materials is established to combat the effects of coronavirus (COVID-19) — This decree exempts the purchase of raw materials for manufacturing disinfectants and medicines against COVID-19 from sales tax, and reduces the tax by 15% on face masks and hand sanitizer for consumers. It also authorizes the government to set maximum prices on essential products during the health emergency through the end of 2020. (Decree 029-2020, 2020)
- Resolución No. 80-2015 — Reconocimiento de Personalidad Jurídica a ORGANIZACIÓN NO GUBERNAMENTAL DE DESARROLLO DENOMINADA UNA VIDA A LA VEZ (ONE LIFE AT A TIME) — This resolution authorizes the U.S. organization "One Life at a Time" to operate legally in Honduras as a non-profit association. The organization must maintain its principal office in Tegucigalpa, submit annual financial reports, and if dissolved, its remaining assets must go to another charitable organization registered in Honduras. (Decree 80-2015, 2015)