General Points Index
1.1 General Principles
1.2 Compliance with the Law
1.3 Transmitting a Commercial
1.4 Complaint Handling by ASA
1.5 Adjudications
1.6 Appeals

1.1 General Principles
The Code is ‘owned’ by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice Ltd. (BCAP) and complaints under it are considered by the Advertising Standards Authority (Broadcast) Ltd. (ASA (B)).

The intentions behind the Code can be spelled out in a few sentences.

• Advertising should not mislead or cause deep or widespread offence.
• Advertising should not lead to harm – particularly to children or other vulnerable people.
• Viewers should know when they are watching programming and when they are receiving a commercial message.

The Code makes it clear that it is intended that the rules should be respected in spirit as well as to the letter. In dealing with the Code, it is important to differentiate between the rules themselves and the guidance notes that are often associated with the rules. These guidance notes are not intended to replace the rules and are not necessarily exhaustive. They offer a good guide on how the Code should be interpreted but attention should also be paid to decisions on complaints made by the ASA (B) Council which are a more up to date way of gauging the prevailing attitude. These decisions may be found on the ASA website – www.asa.org.uk under ‘Adjudications’.

It is part of Clearcast's role to advise on how the Code is likely to be interpreted – hence the value of the pre-transmission advisory and approval service it offers. Clearcast's Notes of Guidance (NoGs) are a summary of Clearcast's current understanding of how the Code is applied in practice.

1.2 Compliance with the Law
It is important to note that in addition to having to comply with the Code, advertising also has to comply with any applicable legal requirements. It is the responsibility of the advertiser to ensure his material is legal. Clearcast is not competent to offer legal advice and does not purport to do so. Communications with Clearcast whether written or oral should not be understood as legal advice (see Liability clause). Clearcast clearance must not be taken to either replace or be prejudicial to an advertiser’s responsibility in this area. Advertisers should note that an assurance of legality is not of itself sufficient to ensure that advertising material will be cleared – the Code will have to be satisfied too.

1.3 Transmitting a Commercial
The Code places responsibility for material transmitted on the broadcasters and the ultimate decision on whether to transmit material is taken by those broadcasters. Accordingly, clearance by Clearcast does not necessarily guarantee that all broadcasters will accept all material or will accept it without conditions beyond those communicated by Clearcast. (Please also refer to advertising by Competitive Broadcasters at section 2.3.14).

Conversely, broadcasters retain the right to transmit material not cleared by Clearcast, though in practice this is likely to happen only very rarely. Advertisers are urged to consult broadcasters’ rate cards for terms of business.

The ASA has the power to intervene to require that advertising should not be transmitted for example where the ASA (B) Council has determined that advertising is misleading or likely to cause unacceptable levels of harm or offence.

1.4 Complaint Handling by ASA
ASA Guidance Note 3 sets out in detail ASA procedures for the handling of complaints about broadcast advertisements. In the event of a complaint being made against an advertisement the advertiser should consult this document on the Committee of Advertising Practice website www.cap.org.uk.

Complaints could come from viewers, competitors or be a challenge initiated by the BCAP Executive as a result of monitoring. The ASA or the BCAP Executive will assess the complaint/challenge and decide whether it requires investigation. Normally at this stage a copy of the advertisement will be requested and this should be provided to ASA/BCAP Executive within seven working days.

Should the ASA/BCAP Executive decide to pursue the complaint/challenge, the letter of complaint or a summary of the complaint/challenge will be sent to Clearcast with a request for a response, normally within seven working days. Should a longer time be needed for a response, Clearcast will contact ASA or the BCAP Executive for an extension to this deadline.

Clearcast will work with the advertiser in preparing this response, which will include relevant substantiation provided at the pre-clearance stage and Clearcast's rationale for accepting the advertisement. If at this stage further material information which has a bearing on the acceptability of the advertisement comes to Clearcast’s attention, Clearcast's ability to defend the continued acceptability will be seriously undermined. This can most commonly happen in the case of misleading advertising. In such cases Clearcast can act on its own initiative and instruct that the advertisement be removed from air as soon as possible.

1.5 Adjudications
When the ASA or the BCAP Executive has completed its investigation, its draft adjudication is sent to Clearcast and is forwarded to the advertiser for further comment. Further comments should be confined to the accuracy of the draft adjudication. The case is then considered by the ASA (B) Council and the outcome is published on the Adjudications Section of the ASA website. Adjudications are published weekly (normally Wednesday). If the advertising is found to contravene the Code it will have to cease being broadcast until appropriate remedial amendments have been made.

1.6 Appeals
Details for the procedures to be adopted in the case of a request to review an ASA adjudication are to be found in Sections 41 to 53 of the ASA Guidance Note No 3.