diff --git a/app/services/snippets/base_service.rb b/app/services/snippets/base_service.rb
index a93c611c289b971665a9ad93371fa522bca2ba14..a352ba024c61a639861cc5488bec3ae777efc873 100644
--- a/app/services/snippets/base_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/snippets/base_service.rb
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ class BaseService < ::BaseProjectService
       cannot_be_used_together: 'and snippet files cannot be used together',
       invalid_data: 'have invalid data'
     }.freeze
+    SNIPPET_ACCESS_ERROR = :snippet_access_error
 
     CreateRepositoryError = Class.new(StandardError)
 
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ def visibility_allowed?(visibility_level)
     def forbidden_visibility_error(snippet)
       deny_visibility_level(snippet)
 
-      snippet_error_response(snippet, 403)
+      snippet_error_response(snippet, SNIPPET_ACCESS_ERROR)
     end
 
     def valid_params?
@@ -50,7 +51,6 @@ def invalid_params_error(snippet)
         snippet.errors.add(:snippet_actions, INVALID_PARAMS_MESSAGES[:invalid_data])
       end
 
-      # Callers need to interpret into 422
       snippet_error_response(snippet, INVALID_PARAMS_ERROR)
     end
 
diff --git a/spec/services/snippets/create_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/snippets/create_service_spec.rb
index beb07e37946844210e67c23eb6455d5f2b154e03..885a30aaa583dd72efd717d558a688587e20012b 100644
--- a/spec/services/snippets/create_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/snippets/create_service_spec.rb
@@ -52,6 +52,10 @@
           expect(subject).to be_error
         end
 
+        it 'responds with a reason' do
+          expect(subject.reason).to eq(described_class::SNIPPET_ACCESS_ERROR)
+        end
+
         it 'does not create a public snippet' do
           expect(subject.message).to match('has been restricted')
         end
diff --git a/spec/services/snippets/update_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/snippets/update_service_spec.rb
index 3f9b4f12989454bcb01b99cbf374cdacde6d2954..fc07f6196bd944575ca2b790f3525639484ab43b 100644
--- a/spec/services/snippets/update_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/snippets/update_service_spec.rb
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@
           expect(subject).to be_error
         end
 
+        it 'responds with a reason' do
+          expect(subject.reason).to eq(described_class::SNIPPET_ACCESS_ERROR)
+        end
+
         it 'does not update snippet to public visibility' do
           original_visibility = snippet.visibility_level