Official certificate with age rating and cut requirements — shows what passes and what doesn't. Germany: FSK mark, basis for distribution and theatrical release.
The censorship card is the official document that decides whether your film is approved or banned—and thus its economic existence. In Germany, the FSK (Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft) holds this power. You submit your fully edited film, the rating board views it, and you either get the green light with an age rating or you don't. The paper that comes out of this process is your censorship card: it bears the classifications 0, 6, 12, 16, or 18 years—and thus also the conditions under which your film is allowed to be shown in cinemas and sold.
What many don't know is that the censorship card is rarely just a "yes" or "no." Often, editing requirements come with it. The FSK might tell you they would approve your drama with violent scenes—but only if you cut the two bullying scenes by 10 seconds each. This isn't censorship in the classic sense, but negotiation. And you decide: Do you cut to get into cinemas? Or do you refuse and accept that your film will never be theatrically distributed? Some filmmakers do this deliberately—they submit a version they intended to cut anyway, receive the requirements, cut it regardless, and then have two versions (the international version and the German one).
Practically, the censorship card is already at the table during the production process. As a cinematographer or producer, you unconsciously plan for this hurdle: How brutal can the scene be? How explicit can the sex be shown? What is suitable for 12-year-olds, and what requires a 16 rating? Especially for children's films and international co-productions, the censorship card is a technical criterion like DCP specifications—it determines the version you will shoot. It is also relevant for archiving: the censorship card documents not only the official version but also which edited version was approved.
Internationally, things are different—Great Britain, the USA, and France each have different systems (BBFC, MPAA, CNC). That's why major films often have multiple censorship cards. And yes: a censorship card for your theatrical version doesn't automatically mean streaming platforms are allowed to show the same version. That is a separate process—and sometimes a separate document.