BBC charter & agreement
The Agreement accompanying the BBC's Charter specifies that we should do all we can to treat controversial subjects with "due accuracy and impartiality" in our news services and other programmes dealing with matters of public policy or of political or industrial controversy. It also states that we are forbidden from expressing our own opinions on current affairs or matters of public policy other than broadcasting. The Accuracy, Impartiality and Politics and Public Policy sections of these guidelines constitute our code as required under section 5.3 of the Agreement, and give guidance as to the rules to be observed under section 5.1 (c) of the Agreement.
In addition, the Agreement forbids any BBC service funded by the licence fee or grant-in-aid from carrying advertising or sponsored programmes. To protect our editorial integrity and independence we have drawn up our own guidelines on standards for advertising and sponsorship for our commercial television and online services.