Vaizey confirms PEGI delay

The rollout of the new PEGI video games classification system will miss its current April deadline and will not be introduced until July of this year at the earliest.

Back in July 2010 the VSC, who will be assuming a central role in the application of the new ratings system, stated that the new PEGI regime would become legally enforceable on April 1st 2011.

It’s not the first delay, either. Previous to that it had been expected to come into law some time in 2010.

However, speaking to GamesIndustry at last night’s Parliament Games Day, Conservative culture minister Ed Vaizey admitted that: "There’s been some technical delays to iron out a few kinks – nothing fundamental, nothing serious. And we’ll crack on with it as fast as we can."

The site adds that it believes the delay is due to the time it will take to obtain European parliamentary approval.

PEGI was selected to be the key arbitrator in UK games classification way back in June 2009 when, as part of the Digital Britain report, it was given government backing.

The decision came despite the conflicting recommendation from Dr Tanya Byron that the BBFC should be given jurisdiction over games.

This was then passed into law as part of the Digital Economy Act in April 2010.