Codes of practice

Under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, each section of the broadcasting industry is required to develop codes of practice, in consultation with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). A further requirement is that members of the public must be given an adequate opportunity to comment on the codes.

The codes are also subject to review every three years. The most recent review took place during 2006-07 and involved invitations to members of the public and to a broad range of interested organisations to comment. Some changes were made as a result and the code was finally registered by ACMA in June 2007.

Specific Codes deal with General Guidelines for Programming (Code No. 1) and Handling Complaints (Code No. 2). However, the Codes document also identifies other conditions which the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 ("the Act") imposes on narrowcasters. These conditions are set out in Attachment "A" which reproduces extracts from Schedule 2 of the Act. In addition there is an expectation that narrowcasters will have regard for certain privacy guidelines and ACMA notices relating to program content.

Click here to download the Codes Of Practice as a PDF document