The creation of Category 3 had a knock on effect on film makers, in the HK film boom of the early 1990s, about half of the films being produced were Category 3 soft core pornos. They came up with a certificate - Category 3 (which would be the same as the US NC17) for films that had strong sexual content, were violent or were just considered 'out there'.

In 1988, the Honk Kong authorities decided to classify the output of the Hong Kong film market.