(a)  No person, firm, or corporation, engaged in the business of the rental of video cassette recordings shall rent a recording that has been labeled, advertised, or otherwise held out to be “X”, “XX”, or “XXX” to any person who is under the age of eighteen (18). The use of the designation “X”, “XX”, or “XXX” on a video cassette recording or its packaging shall constitute the labeling and advertisement for purposes of this chapter.

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 6-43-1

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6

(b)  If the person, firm, or corporation renting a video cassette recording is in doubt as to the age of any person seeking to rent a recording that has been labeled, advertised, or otherwise held out to be “X”, “XX”, or “XXX”, demand may be made that the person produce any of the following documents: (1) A birth certificate; (2) A baptismal certificate; (3) An armed services identification card; (4) A Rhode Island motor vehicle operator’s license; or (5) A Rhode Island identification card; and may require that any person who has shown a document as set forth in this section substantiating his or her age sign his or her name in a book kept for this purpose indicating which document was presented. If a person whose age is questioned shall sign the book before he or she rents a video cassette recording, and it is later determined that the person was not over eighteen (18) years of age, it shall be considered prima facie evidence that the person, firm, or corporation renting the recording acted in good faith in renting to the person.

(c)  Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as adopting, incorporating, or referring to the motion picture rating system of the motion picture association of America or of any other private or public organization.

History of Section.
P.L. 1988, ch. 559, § 1; P.L. 2014, ch. 528, § 30.