Sector compliance
CAP has carried out sector compliance work with Travel Agents.
If an ASA adjudication has ramifications across an industry sector, we ensure a level playing field by contacting all advertisers in that sector to advise them of changes that need to be made to their ads. We often ask publishers and directories for their help in ensuring ads are changed before they are published.
Sector Compliance Projects completed:
In June 2005, we asked directories and publishers for their cooperation in ensuring that advertising for beauty and cosmetic clinics was legal.
Clinics that use certain lasers for medical or cosmetic purposes are required to be registered with the Healthcare Commission. Many clinics using those lasers were not registered and were, therefore, operating illegally. The lasers in question were Class 3B, Class 4 and Intense Pulsed Light Source Lasers, which were typically used for eye surgery and for hair removal; the registration was required under The Care Standards Act 2000 as amended by the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003.
The Healthcare Commission was concerned about the appearance of advertisements by clinics that were not registered. On its website, it has a list of all clinics registered to use the aforementioned lasers; clinics not appearing on the list are likely to be operating illegally.
You can find the list, which is constantly updated, at the Health Commission website.
The Healthcare Commission has limited powers but, if informed about unregistered clinics, can pursue court action if necessary. To avoid them accepting possibly illegal advertising, we asked directories and publishers to, before accepting advertisements that refer to laser eye surgery or hair removal, check with the advertiser the type of lasers it uses and whether it is registered with the Healthcare Commission.