AA Proposes Overhaul Of Broadcast Ad Rules

The Advertising Association has issued a set of self-regulatory proposals for broadcast media to the Government, ahead of this year’s Communications White Paper. It is suggesting that the content of television and radio advertising should be regulated in a similar way to that of press and outdoor.

Regulation of print and outdoor media is the responsibility of the Committee for Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and operates on a self-regulatory basis. Broadcast media, however, is legislated by the ITC and the Broadcasting Standards Commission, which operate a system of statutory controls.

The AA believes that the current period of rapid change and convergence within media calls for greater flexibility and an overhaul of regulation. “We believe that advertising content regulation in broadcast media has, for too long, been treated as an appendum to programme regulation,” the briefing note said.

As delivery platforms converge, it believes “the plethora of existing regulators and the different regulatory requirements that each enforces, is unhelpful and confusing.” Thus it wants the Government to “consider moving content regulation into a non-statutory regulatory system applying the lessons learned from the success of the existing ASA/CAP system and incorporating a system of pre-vetting where necessary and practicable.”

This would include a system of “ultimate sanction” to deal with persistent offenders. Currently such sanctions reside with the Office of Fair Trading but the AA would like to see this responsibility shifted to an independent body.

The group is not suggesting that all media be regulated by the ASA but seeks agreement with the principle of non-statutory systems.

Advertising Association: 020 7828 2771