National age rating systems

Every country classifies audiovisual content its own way. The systems differ not just in their tiers (the ages on the label) but in their criteria — what counts as too violent, too frightening, too explicit — and in their legal force: some ratings are binding law, others are advice to parents.

For anyone releasing trailers or advertising across borders, this patchwork is the daily reality. The DCProof Age Report reviews your content against the standard of the market you target — the same workflow for all 16 systems.

The systems at a glance

System	Country	Tiers
BBFC	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	U, PG, 12A, 12, 15, 18, R18
BCFCO / Québec	🇨🇦 Canada	G, PG, 14A, 18A, R, A · QC: G, 13+, 16+, 18+
CNC	🇫🇷 France	TP, 12, 16, 18, X
FSK	🇩🇪 Germany	0, 6, 12, 16, 18
Filmrating	🇨🇭 Switzerland	0, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18
GoedGezien / BienVu	🇧🇪 Belgium	AL/TOUS, 6, 10, 12, 16, 18
IFCO	🇮🇪 Ireland	G, PG, 12A, 15A, 16, 18
KAVI	🇫🇮 Finland	S, 7, 12, 16, 18
Kijkwijzer	🇳🇱 Netherlands	AL, 6, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18
MPAA	🇺🇸 United States	G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17
Mediemyndigheten	🇸🇪 Sweden	Btl, 7, 11, 15
Medietilsynet	🇳🇴 Norway	A, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18
RTC	🇲🇽 Mexico	AA, A, B, B15, C, D
jMK / ABMC	🇦🇹 Austria	0, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16

Why the same content rates differently per country

• Sweden assesses psychological harm only — coarse language alone won't raise a rating.
• Germany's FSK focuses on developmental harm and is legally binding once issued.
• The Netherlands uses coded pictograms per category (violence, fear, sex, discrimination, substances, language) rather than a single judgment.
• The UK's BBFC ratings are enforceable law for video releases; the US MPAA system is voluntary industry self-regulation.

The tier on the label is the end of a very different reasoning chain in each country — which is why "just map FSK 12 to BBFC 12" doesn't work, and why rating each market against its own criteria matters.