diff -r 4a2afda8f187 Doc/library/codecs.rst
--- a/Doc/library/codecs.rst	Sat Nov 02 18:50:53 2013 +0200
+++ b/Doc/library/codecs.rst	Mon Nov 04 19:27:53 2013 +1000
@@ -23,6 +23,25 @@
 
 It defines the following functions:
 
+.. function:: encode(obj, encoding='utf-8', errors='strict')
+
+   Encodes *obj* using the codec registered for *encoding*.
+
+   *Errors* may be given to set the desired error handling scheme. The
+   default error handler is ``strict`` meaning that encoding errors raise
+   :exc:`ValueError` (or a more codec specific subclass, such as
+   :exc:`UnicodeEncodeError`). Refer to :ref:`codec-base-classes` for more
+   information on codec error handling.
+
+.. function:: decode(obj, encoding='utf-8', errors='strict')
+
+   Decodes *obj* using the codec registered for *encoding*.
+
+   *Errors* may be given to set the desired error handling scheme. The
+   default error handler is ``strict`` meaning that decoding errors raise
+   :exc:`ValueError` (or a more codec specific subclass, such as
+   :exc:`UnicodeDecodeError`). Refer to :ref:`codec-base-classes` for more
+   information on codec error handling.
 
 .. function:: register(search_function)
 
diff -r 4a2afda8f187 Misc/NEWS
--- a/Misc/NEWS	Sat Nov 02 18:50:53 2013 +0200
+++ b/Misc/NEWS	Mon Nov 04 19:27:53 2013 +1000
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #17827: Add the missing documentation for ``codecs.encode`` and
+  ``codecs.decode``.
+
 - Issue #19286: Directories in ``package_data`` are no longer added to
   the filelist, preventing failure outlined in the ticket.