Rogatia's media rating system was administered by the Government of Rogatia's Communications and Education Ministries, through their joint agency ROMERA. The system was first used for books in 1971, then used for radio programs in mid-1977.
ROMERA's official symbol scheme comprised of the rating square on the left, and its designation on the right in a rectangle, both enclosed in a thin black border. The lower right side of such insignia bore the abbrevation "Mstry. Educ." (short for the Ministry of Education, its original sponsor) from inception up till 1985; "Govt. of Rogatia" during 1986–1998; and "Mstry. Educ.—Govt. of Rogatia" from then on until 2006. During the agency's last years of operation, the official ROMERA logo was seen below the ratings.
The ratings, as they were first used, were stamped upon the top left of the front endpaper of books. Either the Government itself, or (more occasionally) librarians, performed the task. There were four of them when the system began, similar to the MPAA's first one comprising G, M, R and X:
A (Suitable for all audiences)
12 (Requires supervision to read if under age 12)
18 (No one under age 18 allowed to read)
21 (NO ONE UNDER AGE 21 ALLOWED TO READ)
ROMERA rated twenty books on the system's first day of operation—April 1, 1971. Among these titles was Daniel Keyes' 1966 novel version of Flowers for Algernon, with a 12.
In 1977, national radio broadcaster ZHCP (also government-owned) started to use the ROMERA ratings. Due to that medium's public nature, only the first two ratings were used at the time. For programs with a 12 rating, the on-air wording was: "Some material on this program may not be suitable for children aged 12 and under."
20th Century Fox's Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back was the first film to receive a ROMERA rating—a 12—on May 30, 1980. With that, Rogatia was one of the Caribbean's first territories to rate motion pictures.[1] ROMERA, however, was a latecomer behind the MPAA and other foreign systems, such as the BBFC of Great Britain.
With that in mind, ROMERA reworded their rating descriptions thus:
A (Suitable for all audiences)
12 (Under age 12 parental guidance recommended)
18 (No one under age 18 allowed)
21 (NO ONE UNDER AGE 21 PERMITTED TO READ) (Books only)
In 1982, concerns over the smoking content in various Disney animated features led the system managers to introduce A*, a stronger version of the A rating. It carried an advisory warning audiences of content that the normal rating would not permit, and was a precursor to the later 10.
The ratings from 1982 to mid-1984 consisted of:
A (Suitable for all audiences)
A* (Suitable for all audiences [with warning])
12 (Under age 12 parental guidance recommended)
18 (No one under age 18 allowed)
21 (NO ONE UNDER AGE 21 PERMITTED TO READ) (Books only)
On September 1, 1984, ROMERA created the 12* rating, specifically for the release of Sixteen Candles.
In February 1986, ROMERA added a few more ratings to its roster: B, T, and P (for books), and 13 (for books and films). That same month, it began tracking VHS and LaserDisc titles.
ROMERA introduced the 10 rating with the release of The Santa Clause in December 1994, effectively replacing the A*.
In September 2004, increasing complaints over indecent content from local Internet users prompted ROMERA to begin its coverage of popular web sites. Half a year later, it introduced the i rating to denote much-visited sites and web portals. Concern over search engine results on Google, MSN, Yahoo! and the like led to a higher variant, i*, in October 2005. These were dropped in January 2012.
On August 24, 2009, ROMERA unveiled a revamped series of rating symbols. With this new design, the text is displayed against a tiled diamond decor. In addition, the organisation redesigned the animation sequences for the bands and rating info that precede some trailers and all films playing nationwide. The Hangover and The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story were the first releases to receive this treatment, on 2 September.
ROMERA gave its last decision to Ernest & Celestine (with a 10 rating) on 1 November 2012. On the 25th of that month, ROMERA scrapped its system and operations as a government entity, and sold its website to a private firm based in Barbados. With no local system in place anymore, Rogatian media has since used the MPAA and U.S. TV ratings by default. Unrated material continues to receive content warnings, which local distributors themselves now apply on DVD/Blu-Ray cases.
ROMERA defined feature films as works running no less than 64 min., 25 sec. in length. Short films ran for less than forty minutes, and featurettes between 40 and 64 minutes.
Despite its full name, ROMERA's ratings policy did not cover video games, because a system for this already exists in the United States: that of the ESRB. In addition, all magazines practically received ◇ (White Diamond), or Exempt, status.
From the time of its establishment, the system also granted Exempt status to the sacred texts of the Holy Bible and the Qur'an. The symbol, by law, was not allowed to be stamped inside copies and variants of such material.
Owing to the countless number of books published every year worldwide, ROMERA's web site (begun in 1996) has let users and visitors decide the particular rating of any book they search for, akin to a wiki. (The agency itself granted official decisions for literature once in a while, up till its closure.)
As works of the Rogatian Goverment and/or one of more of its branches, the ROMERA rating symbols, variants thereof, and official decisions are in the public domain. Effective 1 January 2013, user contributions on its website are available under Creative Commons' CC0 public-domain waiver.
