The current Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice (the Code) was registered by the Authority and came into effect on 20 November 2008. At this time the Code was amended at clause 5.5.11 to permit references to ‘Freeview’ in promotions for digital television to be exempt from the time limits placed on non-program matter. Freeview is a brand of Freeview Australia Pty Limited, which promotes the free-to-air digital television platform in Australia.
The Code covers the matters prescribed in section 123 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, and other matters relating to program content that are of concern to the community. The Code is intended to operate alongside the Authority's standards which regulate programs for children and the Australian content of programs and advertisements.
Development of the code included consultation with government advisory bodies, community interest groups, industry representatives and the public. The Code is reviewed regularly, with the current review having commenced in July 2007.
The Code covers:
- program, commercials, and program promotion classification;
- advertising time on television;
- accuracy, fairness and privacy in news and current affairs;
- disclosure of commercial arrangements in factual programming;
- loudness of advertisements; and
- complaints handling.
Printed copies of the code are available from Free TV Australia, 44 Avenue Rd, Mosman NSW 2088 Australia. Tel: +61 2 8968 7100. Fax: +61 2 9969 3520
The Code, including Appendix 5 (Guidelines for the Classification of Films and computer Games 2003 as published by the National Classification Board) and a Parental Guidance (PG) Time Zone Fact Sheet, are available:
- Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice - 2 July 2004 (amended 20 November 2008) (420 kb)
- Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice – Appendix 5 – 2 July 2004 (320 kb)
- PG Time Zones Fact Sheet – 23 December 2004 (148 kb)