United Kingdom

The Financial Conduct Authority announced October 25, 2022 a consultation on sustainability labelling. Consultation here, closes Jan 25, 2023; helpful commentary here from Herbert Smith Freehills/ Lex

HSBC ruling October 19, 2022. Ad here

SEPTEMBER 2022

22/9/22 Anti-obesity alliance lobbies PM Liz Truss over touted HFSS ad U-turn. (The Drum). 'The Obesity Health Alliance has penned an open letter warning against any move to renege on prior promises after a review of the government’s much-criticized obesity strategy in England was announced.'

MAY 2022

Plan for digital Regulation UK govt.

14/5/22 Government delays restrictions on multibuy deals and advertising on TV and online. 'The restrictions banning HFSS adverts on TV before 9pm and paid-for adverts online will be paused for a year, meaning they come into force January 2024. This is due to a delay to the Health and Care Bill receiving Royal Assent, as well as a growing recognition that the industry needs more time to prepare.'

Proposals to reform UK data protection law were included in the Queen’s Speech May 10, 2022

See P.57 of the background briefing notes here

Boots, PureGym and Dove to stop editing influencer campaigns. Drum story May 2022

Reference is to the Body Image bill, sponsored by Dr. Luke Evans, who presents it to the HoC here.

A Report from the DCMS Committee highlights the rapid expansion in influencer culture, where content creators build relationships with audiences on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, exerting both commercial and non-commercial influence.The Committee concludes that the growth in the market has exposed a number of regulatory gaps, particularly around advertising disclosure and protection for children, both as influencers and viewers, and calls on the Government to strengthen both employment law and advertising regulations. Press release here, report here.

APRIL 2022

23/4/22. Big Tech companies to face new EU content rules. This is the news that the 'Trilogue' (consisting of representation from the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament) have reached agreement on the Digital Services Act, 'a landmark piece of legislation that aims to address illegal and harmful content by getting platforms to rapidly take it down.' The Council's press release is here

Tough new rules to curb broad appeal of gambling ads and better protect under-18s. CAP News 05 Apr 2022

Rules come into effect 1st October, 2022

MARCH 2022

ASA pilot to enhance online transparency 24 March 2022

DCMS Online Advertising Programme consultation. Published 9 March 2022

One to watch - ASA weighs in on “Dark Patterns” Baker Mckenzie/ Lexology

February 2022

The ASA's Tackling racial and ethnic stereotyping in UK ads from February 2022 reports on research findings and other reviews and sets out plans for positive development

December 2021

Misleading environmental claims and social responsibility guidance of December 9, 2021 'consolidates the ASA's position'.

December 2021 EASA update on the progress of the Digital Services Act is here
(We're aware that the UK has left the EU, but some UK users are responsible for pan-European campaigns)

December 2021 EASA update on the progress of the European Commission Beating Cancer Plan (BECA). The EC plan potentially impacts marketing/ advertising in both the Alcohol category and the Food and Beverages category in EU member states

September 2021

ASA adds TV personalities to non-disclosure webpage

The ASA added five former contestants from the reality TV programme, Love Island, to a dedicated non-disclosure webpage as part of continued action against influencers who fail to act transparently and who mislead their followers by not labelling ads in their social media posts.

August 2021

EU issues: an update on the progress of the Digital Services Act is here, on the Farm to Fork strategy (see below) here, and on 'Green transition' here. We are aware that the UK has left the EU, but UK-based agencies and advertisers responsible for multinational campaigns might like to know what's happening in Brussels

May 2021

From the U.K. Advertising Association: "Earlier today (11 May 2021) the Government’s legislative priorities for the coming session were laid out in the Queen’s Speech and it announced its intention to introduce a 9pm watershed on HFSS advertising on TV and a total ban online through the Health and Care Bill." More here

May 2021

ASA annual Report 2020 - Protecting young and vulnerable people (full Version) 29 Apr 2021

https://www.asa.org.uk/resource/annual-report-2020-full-version.html

April 2021

DCMS Committee to examine the power of influencers; written submissions by Friday 7 May

March 2021

UK social media influencers warned over ad rules breaches

February/ March 2021

(While these entries immediately below are EU-related, we include them for those advertisers/ agencies who may be developing campaigns pan-Europe out of the U.K.)

Latest – and significant – news on the EU Farm to Fork strategy here; EU pages on the strategy here

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In the context of Europe’s ‘Beating Cancer Action Plan’, there will be some impact on self-regulation regarding HFSS food advertising, alcohol advertising and Audiovisual Media Service Directive (AVMDS) provisions on commercial communications, similar to the above ‘Farm to Fork’ implications. This relates to the new clauses introduced by the 2018/1808 Directive

The EU’s Green Consumption Pledge Initiative focuses on “non-food or mixed businesses with direct interaction with consumers” and complements the EU Code of conduct for responsible business and marketing practices that will focus on the food sector. This is planned for June 2021

And the ‘green sweep’ - an EU review of websites that make environmental claims - finds that ‘in 42% of cases the claims were exaggerated, false or deceptive and could potentially qualify as unfair commercial practices under EU rules. ‘Greenwashing' has increased as consumers increasingly seek to buy environmentally sound products.’

Feb 2021. Protecting children online: ASA’s latest online monitoring results

The ASA published the findings from the third of its monitoring sweeps, as part of a year-long project to identify and tackle age-restricted ads appearing in children’s online media. Of note, this report revealed a significant fall in the number of HFSS ads appearing in children’s online media. Across the websites and channels monitored, there was a 74% fall in HFSS ads on the previous quarter

Feb 2021: Enforcement Notice on prescription-only weight loss products

CAP, jointly with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, issued an Enforcement Notice to weight-loss treatment providers instructing them that they must not, directly or indirectly, promote prescription-only-medicines (POMs) to the public.

Jan 2021. Bringing body image into sharp focus

ASA Chief Executive Guy Parker wrote a blog on the focus by policy makers to identify the root causes of negative body image and confidence, particularly among young people, and the measures that can be taken to prevent harms. This issue has been rising up the public policy agenda over the last 12 months and it is a conversation the ASA is actively participating in

Updating the ad rules on alcohol. CAP News 21 Jan 2021

"The CAP and BCAP Codes have today been updated with minor amendments to the Alcohol rules. These amendments clarify the language used to describe the ABV thresholds at which drinks are subject to the alcohol rules and what strength a ‘low alcohol’ drink is considered to be. Some text from the ‘definitions’ preface to the Alcohol section has been moved into CAP rule 18.9 (BCAP rule 19.10) to aid clarity of understanding.

December 2020

The ASA will be launching a call for evidence on body image in the New Year

Tackling racial and ethnic stereotyping in ads

The ASA has outlined the work it is carrying out to help it understand what more it needs to do to prevent harmful racial and ethnic stereotypes in advertising which could contribute to real-life racial and ethnic inequalities.

December 2020

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55215778

The age limit for playing the National Lottery is set to be raised from 16 to 18 from next October as the government moves to crackdown on gambling.

The government has pledged a "major and wide-ranging review" of the sector, which may include limits on online stakes and restrictions on advertising.

Betting firms could also be banned from sponsoring football shirts.

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has launched a public consultation on introducing new strengthened rules and guidance on gambling and lotteries advertising to better protect children, young people and vulnerable people.

CAP News 08 Oct 2020

Depicting COVID-19 safety measures in ads

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18 September 2020

ASA statement on coronavirus and depictions of safety regulations

The ASA Council has agreed on three guiding principles that they will use when assessing complaints about ads that depict scenes or behaviours, (for instance: crowds of people in close proximity to each other or people in shops not wearing face masks), which go against current government and scientific rules and guidelines that are aimed at limiting the spread of Covid-19 through the population.

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24 July 2020

The prime minister is set to announce new measures to curb obesity next week, and they are expected to include a ban on TV junk food adverts before 21:00. The measures are yet to be finalised but are also likely to include a ban on online ads for unhealthy foods, and limits on in-store promotions.

~~https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53522492~~

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29 June 2020

Democracy under threat from ‘pandemic of misinformation’ online, say Lords Committee

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/407/democracy-and-digital-technologies-committee/news/147121/democracy-under-threat-from-pandemic-of-misinformation-online-say-lords-committee/

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ASA and CAP 2019 Annual Report 03 Jun 2020

https://www.asa.org.uk/resource/asa-and-cap-2019-annual-report.html

"To many, including those in ad land, it doesn’t make sense that ads for commercial products by businesses large and small throughout the UK should be held to greater account than ads that might swing votes and flip seats. We at the ASA agree. That’s why we’re stating clearly that we think claims in political advertising should be regulated. But while that’s straightforward in theory, it’s complex in practice."

The ASA published its latest report on children's exposure to TV ads for alcohol and gambling

Its report provides exposure figures for 2019.

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Gambling

Tuesday 30th June, the All Party Political Group on Gambling Related Harm published their final report in the 'Online Gambling Harm Inquiry'. One of the key recommendations of the report is 'a ban on all gambling advertising'.

Gambling advertising and ‘lockdown’

ASA and CAP News 07 Apr 2020

https://www.asa.org.uk/news/gambling-advertising-and-lockdown.html?dm_i=4PDW,BOYM,7Y30Q,1AJ9S,1

The ASA issued a warning to gambling operators to pay even more attention to their responsibilities under the Codes during these uncertain times

CAP and BCAP equality consultations

CAP and BCAP published the outcome of consultations on changes proposed as a result of the Equality Act: here (for CAP) and here (for BCAP). In summary, these are changes to the general rule on offence in both Codes which update the list of protected characteristics the ASA will take into account in judging whether an ad might cause serious or widespread offence

There's more

Two other changes see the rule on targeting in section 21 of the CAP Code (21.5), which had previously treated media of appeal to men and women differently in terms of the minimum age of appeal, now prohibits marketing communications for rolling papers and filters in any non-broadcast media with an audience (men or women) where 25% or more are under 18.

In the BCAP Code, there was a scheduling restriction preventing sanitary products from being advertised in or adjacent to programmes of particular appeal to under 10s. That rule has been removed

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SECTION C: ONLINE COMMERCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

Update 25 November 2022: Joint Ofcom-ICO statement on online safety and data protection

SECTION C: COOKIES AND OBA

February 2024

ICO warns organisations to proactively make advertising cookies compliant after positive response to November call to action

CORONAVIRUS: ROYAL MAIL STATEMENT TO ADVERTISERS 9/4/20

https://mail.dma.org.uk/5KA9-ZJY-C02ZAVVF7/cr.aspx

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Reduce

News

A. Overview

Sector

SECTION A OVERVIEW

ASA statement on coronavirus and depictions of safety regulations

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24 July 2020

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29 June 2020

Democracy under threat from ‘pandemic of misinformation’ online, say Lords Committee

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/407/democracy-and-digital-technologies-committee/news/147121/democracy-under-threat-from-pandemic-of-misinformation-online-say-lords-committee/

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https://www.asa.org.uk/resource/asa-and-cap-2019-annual-report.html

General

International

B. Content Rules

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General

International

C. Channel Rules

1. TV/Radio/VOD

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International

2. Cinema/Press/Outdoor

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General

International

3. Online Commercial Communications

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SECTION C: ONLINE COMMERCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

General

International

4. Cookies & OBA

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SECTION C: COOKIES AND OBA

General

International

5. Emails & SMS

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General

International

6. Own Websites & SNS

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General

International

7. Native Advertising

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General

International

8. Telemarketing

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9. Direct Postal Mail

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International

10. Event Sponsorship/ Field Marketing

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General

International

11. Sales Promotion

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International

D. Advice & Clearance

General

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E. Links

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General

International