Ofcom’s duties include a requirement to set broadcasting standards in advertising and prevent the inclusion of advertising in licensed services that may be misleading, harmful or offensive.
Although Ofcom remains ultimately responsible for the implementation and enforcement of standards in broadcast advertising, we have, since 2004, contracted out certain functions relating to the regulation of broadcast advertising content to two co-regulatory bodies:
- The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice, which is responsible for the setting and reviewing broadcast advertising standards as set out in the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising - known as the BCAP Code; and
- The Advertising Standards Authority (Broadcast), which is responsible for the handling and resolution of complaints under the BCAP Code.
Earlier in the summer, Ofcom invited comments from interested parties on its proposal to renew this relationship for a further ten years, as the existing co-regulatory arrangements were to expire at the end of October.
This document summarises our assessment of the responses we received to our proposal and explains our decision to renew the co-regulatory arrangements for broadcast advertising until 2024.
