It used to be acceptable to take the rating from filmratings.com when the rating of a film was not listed on the cover.  In fact the rules used to tell you that if a film was rated on release, but the package did not list a rating (or state NR) then one could use the official site of the ratings body as a source for the film.  Yet I just checked the rules and this has been removed.  Anyone know when and why?

I know it is not common for a rated film not to have it listed, but many Criterion releases are like this. 

The film in question here is The Honeymoon Killers, a 1970 release that was rated R.  I had 2 yes, 3 no votes, all no for unacceptable source.  To reiterate, however, I have taken ratings from filmratings.com before, and it used to be listed in the rules as an acceptable source.  Want to know when that changed.

In your quote it is only said to take rating details from the website. But as far as I understand the rules it is not allowed to take the rating itself from there. If there is no rating on the cover, the DVD is unrated, even if the movie on it has received a rating at some point in time.

Quoting Addicted2DVD:

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The rules quoted is for the rating details... not the rating itself. Though I would have to search and find it... When this was brought up to Ken He said that you can use filmratings.com for rating only if you can prove that it is the same theatrical cut of the film.

I personally always thought this decision was backwards... I always felt it should be you can use it unless you can prove it is not the theatrical cut. But that is not what Ken decided to go with.

I don't know about the situation in the US, but in Germany both of these ways would be wrong. If a DVD is released without a FSK rating here it is automatically banned for everyone under 18 years of age and therefore the profile cannot be marked with the rating the movie had when it was in theaters.

Quoting Discostu:

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In your quote it is only said to take rating details from the website. But as far as I understand the rules it is not allowed to take the rating itself from there. If there is no rating on the cover, the DVD is unrated, even if the movie on it has received a rating at some point in time.

Boy do I look silly now but you are correct. 

I looked at archive.org and it appears the filmratings.com web site never applied to the Rating.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100206013326/http://invelos.com/dvdpro/contributions/Rules.aspx?display=filmdetails

But this brings up a valid point, what do we do if there is no rating on the cover?  If there is a rating displayed on screen can that be used?

What if the rating on the cover is not correct?  We already have instances where the aspect ratio, audio or subtitle tracks, and running time have been incorrectly listed on the back cover before.

But based on the current rules NR should be used as I read it.

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Use "NR" for DVDs which do not qualify for the "Unrated" rating, and which have no rating or are marked "NR" or "Not Rated"

But then again, the rules specifically reference DVD only so they wouldn't apply to Blu-rays.