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Passport or id can be obligatory in order to visit a cinema in Russia

Russian state duma has adopted in first reading a new draft law providing the cinemas’ cashiers with right to require a passport or id from the person buying the ticket to the cinema. If the cashier has doubt in relation to the age of person, buying the ticket, the cashier has the right to make buyer of the ticket to demonstrate his/her id or passport in order to be sure whether the age of person is appropriate for the movie demonstrated in cinema.

If the person refuses or is not able to demonstrate his/her passport the cashier has the right to refuse to sell the ticket to the person. The law is aimed to “to protect the children from information, damaging their health and growth”. The cinemas, i.e. organisers of entertainment events, would bear responsibility if the person, who does not fall within the scope of appropriate audience for certain movie under Russian law, buys ticket to watch that movie.

The cinemas are skeptical about this draft law. “The requirement to demonstrate id if the movie appropriate for certain audience is relevant but impractical and barely impossible to implement it,” – said representative of one major cinemas network. He also added that people go to cinema, as well as to other similar places, in order to entertain themselves; therefore very often they go there without ids or passports. He said it is better to review the procedure of age graduation for movies. This procedure is not objective and sometime lead to cases when movies rated RG-13 in Russian rated 16+ or even 18+, like the movie Beauty and the Beast or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.