Ofcom has today announced its intention to renew the ASA’s contract for regulating broadcast advertising, subject to views from the public and other interested parties.

The ASA began regulating TV and radio advertisements under a co-regulatory partnership with Ofcom in November 2004. Our ten-year contract is due to end in November 2014. The contracting out arrangement also signalled the creation of two new bodies, the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) and the Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Basbof). BCAP is responsible for writing and updating the UK Code for Broadcast Advertising while Basbof collects an arms-length levy on the cost of buying advertising space in order to fund regulation of broadcast advertising.

Over the past ten years, the regulation of TV and radio advertisements has become an integral part of our work and has resulted in a simpler, clearer regulatory system for both the public and advertisers.

Prior to the creation of a ‘one-stop shop’ for all advertising complaints, those who wanted to raise a concern about an advertisement had to contact different bodies, depending on where the ad appeared. This could be particularly confusing if the ad campaign appeared in both non-broadcast and broadcast media, as many do.

The one-stop shop is also clearer for advertisers, who for the last ten years have benefitted from harmonious decision-making from a single regulator. It’s also brought greater consistency between the non-broadcast and broadcast Advertising Codes with BCAP developing rules and policy in tandem with the Committee of Advertising Practice.

We look forward to the outcome of Ofcom’s deliberations and stand ready to continue regulating TV and radio ads for the next ten years.

Ofcom’s announcement can be found here.

Read about the ASA’s 50 year history here.

Read about BCAP here.

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