diff --git a/app/views/request/select_authority.html.erb b/app/views/request/select_authority.html.erb
index 1346482647..9a5d565b67 100644
--- a/app/views/request/select_authority.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/request/select_authority.html.erb
@@ -18,9 +18,12 @@
   <%= form_tag select_authority_path, { :id => 'search_form', :method => 'get' } do %>
     <div>
       <p>
-        <%= _(%Q(First, type in the <strong>name of the UK public authority</strong> you'd
-        like information from. <strong>By law, they have to respond</strong>
-        (<a href="{{url}}">why?</a>).), :url => (help_about_path(:anchor => 'whybother_them')).html_safe) %>
+        <%= _(%Q(First, type in the <strong>name of the public authority</strong> you'd
+        like information from.)) %>
+        <% if AlaveteliConfiguration.authority_must_respond %>
+            <%= _(%Q(<strong>By law, they have to respond</strong> (<a href="{{url}}">why?</a>).),
+                  :url => (help_about_path(:anchor => 'whybother_them')).html_safe) %>
+        <% end %>
       </p>
 
       <%= text_field_tag :query,
diff --git a/config/general.yml-example b/config/general.yml-example
index 5be62ee21b..1f126c5a53 100644
--- a/config/general.yml-example
+++ b/config/general.yml-example
@@ -154,6 +154,11 @@ USE_DEFAULT_BROWSER_LANGUAGE: true
 # ---
 INCLUDE_DEFAULT_LOCALE_IN_URLS: true
 
+# Are authorities required to respond by law?
+#
+# AUTHORITY_MUST_RESPOND: Boolean (default: true)
+AUTHORITY_MUST_RESPOND: true
+
 # The REPLY...AFTER_DAYS settings define how many days must have passed before
 # an answer to a request is officially late. The SPECIAL case is for some types
 # of authority (for example: in the UK, schools) which are granted a bit longer
diff --git a/doc/CHANGES.md b/doc/CHANGES.md
index 4210996043..dee11f6f71 100644
--- a/doc/CHANGES.md
+++ b/doc/CHANGES.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## Highlighted Features
 
+* Added a new `AUTHORITY_MUST_RESPOND` configuration variable. Set this to
+  `true` If authorities must respond by law. Set to `false` otherwise. It
+  defaults to `true`. At the moment this just tweaks some UI text.
 * State changing admin actions are now restricted to PUT or POST methods
   to protect against CSRF attacks, and now use more standard RESTful
   routing.
diff --git a/lib/configuration.rb b/lib/configuration.rb
index 2144f99541..90fd30d5f7 100644
--- a/lib/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/configuration.rb
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ module AlaveteliConfiguration
             :ADMIN_PASSWORD => '',
             :ADMIN_USERNAME => '',
             :ALLOW_BATCH_REQUESTS => false,
+            :AUTHORITY_MUST_RESPOND => true,
             :AVAILABLE_LOCALES => '',
             :BLACKHOLE_PREFIX => 'do-not-reply-to-this-address',
             :BLOG_FEED => '',