Who: European Advertising Standards Alliance (“EASA“)
Where: Lisbon
When: Between 24 and 26 October 2016
What happened:
The European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) has launched a new International Council on Ad Self-Regulation (“ICAS“). The EASA brings together national advertising self-regulatory authorities and organisations representing the advertising industry in Europe. Based in Brussels, EASA is the European voice for advertising self-regulation.
EASA’s role is to encourage best practice and common high standards in advertising self-regulation, taking into account national differences of cultural, legal and commercial practice, and co-ordinating cross-border complaints with its members to make sure they are resolved as quickly and effectively as possible. Advertising self-regulation implies that ‘Ad Standards’ are created, being a code or a set of principles that local ad ecosystems voluntarily comply with to ensure that ads are legal, decent, honest and truthful. They are implemented and enforced by the national self-regulatory organisations (SROs) that form EASA’s network.
An International Council on Advertising Self-Regulation (ICAS), promoted by EASA, was already set up in 2008 to provide a platform where EASA’s international self-regulatory organisations and industry associations could meet in person once a year.
However, following globalisation, there were new global challenges to advertising self-regulation and to the promotion of responsible advertising. A new platform was needed to develop advertising self-regulation worldwide in the interest of the global consumers and the advertising industry.
Amongst its founding members, the new ICAS can count SROs from Asia-Pacific, North America, South America, as well as several of the largest European SROs. Through EASA, all European SROs and industry associations will be represented, thus becoming part of the network of the new ICAS. On the side of the industry, the most notable founding member of ICAS is the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) which has been driving the development of ICAS together with EASA.
ICAS will play a fundamental role in the promotion and development of advertising self-regulation worldwide.
Why this matters:
This new international information exchange platform will unite global (SROs) and international industry associations to form a powerful council that will facilitate the set up of new SROs in emerging markets, help empower them and provide a platform to discuss and work on solutions regarding the global challenges faced by the advertising industry worldwide.
The forum will provide help and consultation in order to facilitate the development of advertising self-regulatory bodies where they do not currently exist and helps build a profile for advertising self-regulation globally.
