Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) is a domain-neutral top-level ontology designed to serve as the starting point for development of domain ontologies designed to support the consistent annotation not only of scientific research data but also of data arising through clinical practice, hospital administration, and regulatory oversight. In each of these areas data are generated relating to what are called deontic entities – obligations, duties, contracts, permissions, consents, licenses, and so forth. I will sketch how we can understand entities of these sorts within the BFO framework.