BACKGROUND
The Cinematography Exhibition Board of Control (Preview and Classification Board) is charged with the responsibility to regulate and control the contents in movies produced locally as well as the foreign ones that enters the country, including the accompanying posters and inlays, intended for public screening. The purpose is to promote movies that shapes and improve the cultural heritage as a people, protect and improve the social and moral fibre and growth through the use of films.
The Board over the years since its establishment had always sought to promote ethnic cohesion, religious and political tolerance among Ghanaians and protection of the vulnerable in the society by ensuring the contents in our movies are suitable to all audience at different classifications.
The Act that governs our operations is derived from the Cinematograph Act, 1961 (Act 76). The Act mandates the Minister of Information to appoint the Board of Control for the said purposes. The 1992 constitution, Article 162 (2) prohibits the Board from censoring movies, thus limiting its roles to only previewing and classification.
The Secretariat of the Board is located at the Cinema Section of the Information Services Department at the North Industrial Area, Accra.
THE STRUCTURE
The Board is headed by the Minister of Information and Media Relations, who is mandated to constitute the larger Board made up of members representing various institutions and civil societies. The Board has a preview and classification committee whose function is to do a comprehensive content analysis of the movies and then make the necessary recommendations for the kind of classification for a particular movie.
The other committee is the finance committee which serves as the internal controls for the Secretariat and recommend any control measure they deemed necessary subject to the approval of the Board. The daily operations of the Board are done at the Secretariat which is under the supervision of the Head of Cinema who also is the Secretary to the Board.