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ASA extends remit in the UK

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has announced it will extend its digital remit to cover all marketing communications online.

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) will amend the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing, enforced by the ASA.

Currently the ASA’s remit includes only ads in paid for spaces and sales promotions. From 1 March 2011, the new remit will cover advertisers own marketing communications on their own websites and marketing communications in non-paid-for space under their control, such as social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The remit covers misleading advertising, social responsibility and the protection of children and will apply to all businesses and organizations regardless of size.

Ads which fail to comply with the new regulations will also be subject to new sanctions, including the removal of links leading to the pages hosting non compliant ads. The extension of the digital remit will offer better protection to consumers online, and follows formal recommendation from a wide cross-section of UK industry.

ASA chairman Lord Chris Smith said, “This significant extension of the ASA’s remit has the protection of children and consumers at its heart. We have received over 4,500 complaints since 2008 about marketing communications on websites that we couldn’t deal with, but from 1 March anyone who has a concern about a marketing communication online will be able to turn to the ASA.”

The industry have agreed to fund the remit through a 0.1% levy on paid for advertisements appearing on internet search engines through media and search agencies, in the same way the ASA is funded by offline advertising. Additional funding however, will also be provided by Google.

Lynsey Barber, London