diff --git a/docs/api-guide/settings.md b/docs/api-guide/settings.md
index aaedd463e..43db46152 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/settings.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/settings.md
@@ -456,6 +456,12 @@ An integer of 0 or more, that may be used to specify the number of application p
 
 Default: `None`
 
+#### USE_PERMISSION_CODE
+
+USE_PERMISSION_CODE determines whether BasePermission.code is used in exceptions.PermissionDenied.
+
+Default: `False`
+
 [cite]: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/
 [rfc4627]: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4627.txt
 [heroku-minified-json]: https://github.com/interagent/http-api-design#keep-json-minified-in-all-responses
diff --git a/rest_framework/settings.py b/rest_framework/settings.py
index b699d7caf..2bb690d34 100644
--- a/rest_framework/settings.py
+++ b/rest_framework/settings.py
@@ -122,6 +122,8 @@ DEFAULTS = {
         'retrieve': 'read',
         'destroy': 'delete'
     },
+
+    'USE_PERMISSION_CODE': False,
 }
 
 
diff --git a/rest_framework/views.py b/rest_framework/views.py
index 248c9c78e..6e03b8b14 100644
--- a/rest_framework/views.py
+++ b/rest_framework/views.py
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ class APIView(View):
                 self.permission_denied(
                     request,
                     message=getattr(permission, 'message', None),
-                    code=getattr(permission, 'code', None)
+                    code=getattr(permission, 'code', None) if api_settings.USE_PERMISSION_CODE else None
                 )
 
     def check_object_permissions(self, request, obj):
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ class APIView(View):
                 self.permission_denied(
                     request,
                     message=getattr(permission, 'message', None),
-                    code=getattr(permission, 'code', None)
+                    code=getattr(permission, 'code', None) if api_settings.USE_PERMISSION_CODE else None
                 )
 
     def check_throttles(self, request):