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23 November 2009
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Guidance

Informed Consent and Consent Forms

• Introduction
• What is Informed Consent?
• Categories of contributor
• Unrecruited Participants
• Recruited Participants
• Third Party Contributors
• Reuse and Reversioning
• Using Standard Contributor Consent Forms

Introduction

The BBC strives to be fair to all - fair to those we're making programmes about, fair to contributors, and fair to our audiences. When considering the requirements for consent, this means:

• We will be open, honest and straightforward in our dealings with contributors and audiences, unless there is a clear public interest or we need to consider important legal issues or issues of confidentiality.
• People will normally have consented to contribute to our output.

We obtain informed consent from our contributors in a variety of ways depending on the circumstances of their contribution. Wherever practicable we should obtain consent in a form capable of proof, preferably in writing or recorded.

In many cases contributors will give their consent by simply agreeing to be recorded for radio or television or to contribute online. This will usually apply to people who are interviewed at short notice for any of our services, including people in the news and people who take part in "vox pops".

Occasionally there may also be circumstances in which contributors give their verbal consent at the start of a project and their continued consent is implicit through their ongoing involvement in the making of the programme.

People recorded clearly committing an offence or behaving in an anti-social manner in a public place will not normally be asked for consent. We would also normally reveal their identity although there are circumstances when it is important not to do so. See Section 7 Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour - Disguising Identities .

This guidance should be read in conjunction with Editorial Guidelines Section 5: Fairness, Contributors and Consent .

This Editorial Policy Guidance was first produced on 27 May 2005. Updated 19 June 2006.

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