It is concerned with preventing the display of “indecent” material to the unsuspecting public.

Various older pieces of legislation dealing with similar matters were repealed by the Act, but it was directed that other legislation in Scotland was to remain in force alongside it, including provisions that later became part of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

In response to a parliamentary question in 2006, it was revealed that proceedings in England and Wales in the years 2002–2004 had run at three, six and two cases, with only three guilty verdicts, all in 2004.

Under one of the Act's predecessors, the album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols was unsuccessfully prosecuted, and it has been displayed in shops ever since.

In 2004, a nude sculpture was concealed from outside view after a warning about the Act.