How did you find that out Paul?
BBFC told me they passed on the issue to UK trading standards
The video recordings act 2010 act was just created to cover a procedure error that existed in the original 1984 act
In January 2010, the Video Recordings Act 2010 (VRA 2010) came into force.
This 2010 act was simultaneously repealed and immediately revived without amendment the Video Recordings Act 1984, in order to correct a procedural error made during the passage of the VRA 1984.
The 1984 video recordings act still applies in UK
The Video Recordings Act 1984 (VRA) makes it illegal to supply any video or DVD
within the UK which has not been age rated by the BBFC. There are some exceptions to this (for example, educational works or works predominantly concerned with sport, religion and music) but all feature films and TV programmes must be age rated.
It ok to import releases from other countries as in when you travel to other countries and then return to UK as for personal use as long as a release not on a banned list in UK
A UK online retailer can get around the 1984 act to sell import DVD/Blu-ray releases if item been sold the seller itself is based outside UK and item been purchased is not shipped from within UK
A high street music/video shop is not allowed sell USA DVD/Blu-ray imports direct to customers as it would be a item sold and supplied from within the UK and would be a item that was not BBFC certified.
There is some releases that are exempt from requiring classification these are mostly educational
Amazon UK do selling of USA DVD/Blu-ray import releases correctly
A USA import when live to order on Amazon UK
It's listed as a US import and the seller is listed as Amazon US and item purchased is shipped from USA to the customer in UK
and clearly listed is not a item sold or shipped from within UK
The issue with Zavvi UK
is the DVD or Blu-ray is not clearly listed as a US import and the item been purchased will not be shipped from within UK
Also If a DVD or Blu-ray not clearly listed is a US import
Some customers just might assume they purchasing a UK release and they will not have any playback issues
Some USA DVD and Blu-ray releases are Region 1 Locked and Region A locked
Zavvi USA Website
USA Blu-ray releases listed on Zavvi USA are items sold from within USA and shipped from USA not UK
That is why those USA releases been sold on Zavvi USA is OK
Most of the USA listings that end up been listed on Zavvi UK are errors due to both Zavvi USA and Zavvi UK using the same website software platform
The listing then has to be manually removed from Zavvi UK but sometimes this does not happen or gets removed lot later than should be
All Zavvi UK have to do to get around the 1984 act is do the following
1) Clearly list DVD or Blu-ray is a USA import when live to order
2) Seller on Zavvi UK be clearly listed as Zavvi USA and not Zavvi UK
3) Item purchased clearly listed will be shipped from USA to customer in UK and not be a item shipped from within UK