Who: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
Where: United Kingdom
When: 22 December 2020
Law stated as at: 22 January 2021
What happened:
The CAP and BCAP Codes consolidate many rules that reflect significant pieces of EU law or UK law implementing EU law in areas such as misleading advertising, food and medicines.
The European Union (Withdrawal Act) 2018 (the EUWA 2018) and the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 (the EUWAA 2020) were designed to ensure that the UK had a functioning statute book after Brexit. The EUWA 2018 ensures that the same rules and laws would apply on the day after exit as on the day before, and that subsequent legislation could then change these. The EUWAA 2020 amended the EUWA 2018 to provide that the conversion of EU law into “retained EU law” took place at the end of the transition period rather than on “exit day” and that new pieces of directly applicable EU law that were introduced during this period would continue to automatically apply in the UK. This means that at the end of the transition period, the rules contained in the CAP and BCAP Codes remain in force unless later repealed.
CAP and BCAP have indicated that they will continue to consider any changes that might be necessary to the Codes and will make any appropriate changes as necessary.
Why this matters:
The CAP and BCAP Codes remain the same after Brexit, which provides certainty and continuity to advertisers.
