1. AdvertisingStandardsAuthority- ASA- http://www.asa.org.uk
The AdvertisingStandardsAuthorityisthe UK’sindependent
regulatorof advertisingacrossall media.Theyapplythe
AdvertisingCodes,whichare written bythe Committeesof
AdvertisingPractice.Theirworkincludesactingoncomplaints
and proactivelycheckingthe mediatotake actionagainst
misleading,harmful oroffensive advertisements.
Regulation?
As the UK’s independent regulator for advertising across all media, our work includes acting
on complaints and proactively checking the media to take action against misleading, harmful
or offensive advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing.
If they judge an ad to be in breach of the UK Advertising Codes, it must be withdrawn or
amended and the advertiser must not use the approach again. In 2012 they considered
31,298 complaints about 18,990 cases and actively checked thousands of ads. The
companies work led to 3,700 ads being changed or withdrawn.
Framework
The UK advertising regulatory system is a mixture of
 self-regulationfornon-broadcastadvertising
 co-regulationforbroadcastadvertising
Broadly this means that the system is paid for by the industry, which also
writes the rules, but those rules are independently enforced by the ASA.
For TV and radio advertising, they regulate under a contract from Ofcom.
The UK Advertising Codes are written by two industry committees: the
Committee of Advertising Practice writes the UK Code of Non-broadcast
Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing and the Broadcast
Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) writes the UK Code of Broadcast
Advertising.
The systemis a sign of a considerable commitment by the advertising
industry to uphold standards in their profession. All parts of the advertising
industry – advertisers, agencies and media – have come together to
commit to being legal, decent, honest and truthful in their ads.
Regulatingads
As well asactingon complaints,the ASA carryout manyotherregulatoryactivitiestomake sure
advertisingstayswithinthe rules.Forexample,the ASA activelychecksadsinall mediaandregularly
conductssurveysof advertisementspublishedbysectors where there iseitherunsatisfactory
compliance withthe Codesorwhere there are societal concernsaboutthatsector.Andtogether
withCAP,we workto supportthe industrytohelpthemgettheirads rightbefore theyare
published.Forexamplebyprovidingguidance,pre-publicationadvice andtrainingforthe industry.
What happensbefore an ad ispublished?
The AdvertisingCodesrequire thatall claims mustbe substantiatedbefore beingpublishedoraired.

2. Pre-clearance for TV and radio advertising
The vast majorityof TV and radioads are pre-clearedbeforethey are broadcast.
Under theirlicencesbroadcastersmusttake reasonablestepstoensure thatthe adstheybroadcast
are compliantwiththe UKCode of BroadcastAdvertising.
To helpthemdothis,the broadcastershave establishedandfundedtwopre-clearance centres:
• Clearcastfortelevisioncommercials
• The RadioAdvertisingClearance Centre(RACC) forradioads.
Non-broadcast advertising
There are manymillionsof non-broadcastadspublishedeveryyearinthe UK,so it wouldbe
impossible topre-cleareveryone of them.Forexample thereare more than30 millionpress
advertisementsand100 millionpiecesof directmarketingeveryyear.
However,lotsof advice andguidance isavailablethrough CAPAdvice andTraining. Thisincludes
free bespoke pre-publicationadvice fromCopyAdvice andonlineresourcesthatadvertisers,
agenciesandmediacanuse to check the latestpositionsonhundredsof differentadvertisingissues.
Regulationafter an advertisementhas appeared
Eventhoughmany stepsare takento ensure adsare inline withthe Codesbefore theyare airedor
published,consumershave the righttocomplainabout ads theyhave seen,whichtheybelievetobe
misleading,harmful oroffensive.
The ASA can act on justone complaint.We don’tplaya numbersgame:our concerniswhetherthe
Codeshave beenbreached.
Sanctions
If the ASA have judgedanad to be in breachof the Codes,thenthe admust be withdrawnor
amended.The vastmajorityof advertiserscomplywiththe ASA’srulingsandtheyactquicklyto
amendor withdrawanad that breaksthe Codes.Theyhave a range of effectivesanctionsattheir
disposal toact againstthe fewwhodo not andensure theycomplywiththe rules.
Self regulationof non-broadcast advertising
Self-regulation means that the industry has voluntarily established and paid for its own
regulation.
The systemworks because it is powered and driven by a sense of corporate social
responsibility amongst the advertising industry. Advertisers have an interest in maintaining
the system because:
 Making sure that consumers are not misled, harmed or offended by ads helps to
maintain consumer confidence in advertising. Advertising that is welcomed by
consumers is good for business.
 It maintains a level playing field amongst businesses. It is important for fair
competition that all advertisers play by the same rules.
 Maintaining the self-regulatory systemis much more cost-effective for advertisers
than paying the legal costs of a court case.

3. The role of the industry is to write the Advertising Codes, help advertisers to comply with
the rules and to pay for the system. However, the industry does not administer its own
rules. It has established the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) as the independent
adjudicator. Advertising self-regulation is flexible in its scope and is able to adapt to market
conditions. This is particularly important in the fast-moving advertising industry. The Code
reflects requirements in law, but also contains many rules that are not required by law at all.
The advertising industry has chosen to exercise this self-restraint not only to make further
legislation unnecessary, but also as a public demonstration of its commitment to high
standards in advertising. Because the systemworks successfully, the UK Government has
not needed to regulate directly. However, that doesn’t mean that the views of politicians –
or civil society and the wider industry - on advertising regulation are unimportant, so we
actively seek out their views on our work.
Interaction with the law
Across the European Union (EU) there is a unified piece of consumer protection legislation
to prevent the use of misleading or unfair trading practices. This law, called the Unfair
Commercial Practices Directive, has been translated into UK law to make sure that we have
the same rules as all the other countries in the EU. The ASA works within this legal
framework to make sure that UK advertising is not misleading or unfair. The ASA is able to
refer advertisers who persistently break the Advertising Codes and don’t work with them to
other bodies for the further action, such as Trading Standards or Ofcom.
The ASA is considered the ‘established means’ for gaining compliance with both these
pieces of legislation. This means that the law itself is not usually enforced formally through
the courts; instead the ASA is first allowed to tackle any problems under the Advertising
Codes. This approach works well in the overwhelming majority of cases. The ASA is able to
take action quickly and this avoids clogging up our court system.
Referral is rarely necessary, as most advertisers prefer to work with the self-regulatory
system.