BBFC (British board of film classification)The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is an independent, non-

government body, which classifies movies, videos and computer games. Classifications range between 'U' ( 'Universal') suitable for

audiences aged 4 and over and '18' meaning suitable only for adults.

The British Board of Film Censors was established in 1912 by the film industry when local authorities started to impose their own, widely varying, censorship standards on films.

The BBFC was set up in order to bring a degree of uniformity to those standards. The object was to create a body which could make judgements that were acceptable nationally.

ASA (Advertising Standards Authority)

An independent organization, founded in 1962, which checks that advertisements do not lie or make false

claims about a product. Anyone can ask the Advertising Standards Authority to investigate an

advertisement. If there is a problem with it, the Authority may then tell the company to change or

remove it.

In 1961 the Advertising Association established the Committee of Advertising Practice to draft the

British Code of Advertising Practice.

Not long after the inception of the ASA the Molony Committee considered but rejected proposals to

introduce a system to regulate the advertising industry by statute. The Committee reported that it was satisfied that the industry could be regulated

effectively from within by the ASA.

PEGI (Pan European Game Information)Pan European Game Information (PEGI) is a European video game content rating system established to help European consumers make informed decisions on buying computer games with logos on games' boxes.

On 30 July 2012, PEGI became the sole system for age classification of video games in the United Kingdom.

Abbreviation PEGI

Formation April 9, 2003

Purpose Video game classification

Region served Europe, Canada (Quebec only), Israel

Parent organization Interactive Software Federation of Europe

Website http://www.pegi.info

PCC (Press Complaints Commission)The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC closed on Monday 8 September 2014, and was replaced by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), chaired by Sir Alan Moses.

The PCC was funded by the annual levy it charges newspapers and magazines. It has no legal powers – all newspapers and magazines voluntarily contribute to the costs of, and adhere to the rulings of, the Commission, making the industry self-regulating.

The precursor to the PCC was the Press Council, a voluntary press organisation founded in 1953 with the aim of maintaining high standards of ethics in journalism. However in the late 1980s, several newspapers breached these standards and others were unsatisfied with the effectiveness of the council. The Home Office thus set up a departmental committee, headed by Sir David Calcutt, to investigate whether a body with formal legal powers should be created to regulate the industry.

OFCOM (Office of Communications)Ofcom is the communications regulator in the UK. We regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate.

Ofcom has wide-ranging powers across the television, radio, telecoms and postal sectors. It has a statutory duty to represent the interests of citizens and consumers by promoting competition and protecting the public from harmful or offensive material.

The creation of Ofcom was announced in the Queen's Speech to the UK parliament in June 2001. The new body, which would replace several existing authorities, was conceived as a "super-regulator" to oversee media channels that were rapidly converging through digital transmission.