Remedy
Start free

Section 333: Party political broadcasts

Communications Act 2003 · 2003 c. 21View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 3: Television and Radio Services ETC — Chapter 4: Regulatory provisions

The regulatory regime for every licensed public service channel, and the regulatory regime for every national radio service, includes—

conditions requiring the inclusion in that channel or service of party political broadcasts and of referendum campaign broadcasts; and
conditions requiring that licence holder to observe such rules with respect to party political broadcasts and referendum campaign broadcasts as may be made by OFCOM.

The rules made by OFCOM for the purposes of this section may, in particular, include provision for determining—

the political parties on whose behalf party political broadcasts may be made;
in relation to each political party on whose behalf such broadcasts may be made, the length and frequency of the broadcasts; and
in relation to each designated organisation on whose behalf referendum campaign broadcasts are required to be broadcast, the length and frequency of such broadcasts.

Those rules are to have effect subject to sections 37 and 127 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (c. 41) (only registered parties and designated organisations to be entitled to party political broadcasts or referendum campaign broadcasts).

Rules made by OFCOM for the purposes of this section may make different provision for different cases.

Before making any rules for the purposes of this section, OFCOM must have regard to any views expressed by the Electoral Commission.

In this section—

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.