Welcome to your April 2017 update from ocmarketinglaw.com. This month, marketing consent is a major theme, with reports on industry reaction to draft GDPR consent guidance from the UK’s ICO, an ASA case on third party consents and fines for Flybe and Honda for sending permission-seeking emails.
In the digital space, there’s big news from France, with the extension of their Loi Sapin transparency rules into the online world. This looks set to have significant implications for publishers, agencies and adtech businesses with effect from January 2018.
And if proof were ever needed of the multi-sector, multi-disciplinary nature of ad law, this month’s other pieces from the OC team take in a wide range of topics, including nutrition claims, smoking and e-cigarette issues, broadband advertising and even – no, it’s not Christmas quite yet – a brace of Santa-related ASA adjudications.
I hope you find it interesting. If you would like to discuss any of the content in this update, please contact me or the author of the relevant story.
Latest News
Advertising Regulation
ASA’s investigation into broadband providers’ use of “fibre” in advertising – On 31 March 2017 ASA announced it is reviewing the potentially misleading use of “fibre” to describe both part-fibre and full-fibre broadband advertising. Marie-Claire Smith reports.
General opt-ins to receive marketing emails from third parties won’t do, say ASA – The ASA stresses that explicit consent of consumers is required before marketing emails can be sent, clearly indicating the nature and types of communications that the consumer may receive. Jennifer Richardson reports.
Responses to ICO GDPR consent consultation highlight adtech quandary – Submissions from the DMA and the IAB raise issues on the ICO’s proposed guidance on consent under the GDPR. But what are the key bones of contention for the ad sector trade bodies, and what do these tell us about the tough compliance choices faced by the adtech sector? Nick Johnson reports.
ASA considers adverts depicting Santa – Complaints were lodged against an e-cigarette billboard campaign and a TV ad for a dementia charity, both of which featured cartoon and animated representations of Santa Claus. Jamie Heatly reports.
New reporting duties on seller of digital ad spaces in France – The much anticipated French decree of 9 February 2017 implemented the provisions of Article 23 of French Sapin Law (i.e. reporting duties on sellers of ad spaces) into the framework of the digital advertising world. Julia Darcel and Claire Bouchenard report.
Oh la la! French Courts ruled that the broadcast of a TV Show displaying guests smoking cigarettes does not amount to illegal advertising in favour of tobacco – The French Supreme Court recently ruled that the broadcast of a TV show displaying guests smoking does not amount to illegal advertising in support of tobacco if the show does not contain any image or statement aiming at or having the effect of promoting directly or indirectly tobacco or tobacco products. Chloé Dumoulin-Richet reports.
ASA clampdown on health and nutrition claims – ASA investigations show growth in unauthorised health and nutrition claims for food products. Jude King reports.
Data & Privacy
Flybe: A lesson in not breaking one law whilst getting ready for another… – The ICO recently fined Flybe £70,000 for sending e-mails to people (who had previously opted out) asking them to review their marketing preferences. Georgina Graham reports.
New ICO paper on Big Data published – Three years after its initial paper on Big Data, the UK’s data protection regulator considers how the landscape has changed and the impact of the GDPR. Thomas Spanyol reports some of the key findings and recommendations.
Media & IP
Search engines agree to a voluntary code on the removal of links to content which infringes IP Google and Bing have teamed up with the UK IPO to agree a voluntary code aimed at demoting search engine links to copyright infringing websites. Ben Dunham reports.
