Vice-president of the Netherlands Film Institute Director Kids@ndMedia, Phrixus Foundation Independent Media watcher
consultant.
From 1989 to February 2001, the month in which the Netherlands Government abolished the law on the Film Performances Act, Mr.Crans was director of the Netherlands Board of Film Classification (NBFC). Before that he had already worked in the field of youth protection for eight years. The NBFC was a government based institute but functioned independently and classifications mainly focused on feature films, television trailers and commercials with a cinema background.
In recent years, however, Mr. Crans has been able to broaden the perspective to a more European approach towards media and youth protection and has added a valuable contribution to multiple European Steering Groups. He has been a member and chairman of the European Film and Video Regulators Group since 1992, a member of the FSF Kuratorium in Berlin since 1996, of the European Internet Steering Group “INCORE” since 1998/1999 and of the International Internet Advisory Group of I CRA since the beginning of 2000. Since May 2001 a member of the working group for a European interactive leisure software rating system.
Mr. Crans studied social science and recently (April 2001) graduated at the ERASMUS University in Rotterdam on the subject Culture Science and Culture Industry. His main point of interest is Media and European Co-operation.
His publications include:
- In the Margin of Tolerance: The Netherlands Board of Film Classification at the end of the 20th Century
- Government controlled Film Classification as an Instrument of Cultural Policy;
- Youth Media Protection in Europe (with three German colleagues);
- Thesis on the harmonisation of European Media Classification (Erasmus University)
The NFI / MEC is based in the Royal Library at The Hague – the Netherlands.