UK Video certification law never enacted

[sinister]

From http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6808592.ece

People selling adult videos, including pornography, to children are to escape prosecution after the discovery of a Whitehall blunder that means that the 1984 law regulating the video industry was never enacted.

The disclosure that for 25 years the Act governing the classification and sale of videos, video games and now DVDs was never brought into force is a big embarrassment to both Conservative and Labour governments.

It also leaves the industry in disarray with the classification system designed to protect the under-18s from violent and explicit material no longer officially in operation.

Police and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs are to be told to stop bringing any prosecutions until the Government brings in emergency legislation to re-enact the 1984 Video Recordings Act. Until then people will be able to sell videos, including violent and pornographic ones, to under-18s without fear of prosecution.

I wonder if they'll try to add anything to increase the restrictions when they enact the new law.

[doogie]

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said that it had received legal advice that people who had previously been prosecuted and convicted would be unable to overturn their convictions or seek compensation.

This is the bit I don't understand; if the law that they were prosecuted under is found to be not valid and people are not able to be prosecuted under it now, how can the previous convictions not be overturned?

This is obviously a different situation to if a law was intentionally repealed, but the law was apparently not a valid law in the first place...

[XMachina]

Originally Posted by doogie

This is the bit I don't understand; if the law that they were prosecuted under is found to be not valid and people are not able to be prosecuted under it now, how can the previous convictions not be overturned?

This is obviously a different situation to if a law was intentionally repealed, but the law was apparently not a valid law in the first place...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_post_facto_law retroactive laws.