New broadcast role for industry advice panel

17 August 2006

The General Media Panel, the panel of industry experts that guides the Executive on Code interpretation, is being expanded to give advice on broadcast advertising matters as well as non-broadcast.  Traditionally, the GMP’s role of guiding the ASA and CAP Executive has involved helping the ASA and CAP produce advice for the industry on non-broadcast advertisements and to provide a forum to assess recommendations to the ASA Council and pre-publication copy advice.

Expanding into broadcast

With the birth of the ‘one-stop shop’ for advertising regulation, it became clear that the broadcast side of the self-regulatory system would benefit from being able to draw on industry guidance in the same way that the non-broadcast side had done for some time.  That would help ensure consistency in advertising standards across media and fairness in the ASA’s complaints procedure.  The CAP and BCAP committees have now agreed to expand the GMP.  The enlarged Panel and Panel meeting agendas will consist of two overlapping parts: a broadcast element and non-broadcast element; members from both will consider multi-media items.  As before, a member of the ASA Council will sit on the GMP.

The Chairman

The Chairman of the GMP, Grant Duncan of Publicis, will chair the enlarged Panel and attend BCAP meetings as an observer; he already attends CAP meetings.  Grant Duncan said “It makes absolute sense for the GMP to advise on Code interpretation for both non-broadcast and broadcast advertisements for the same reasons it makes sense for one ASA to adjudicate on ads across broadcast and non-broadcast media.  I’m glad the GMP will be able to apply its expertise to all media and I welcome the new members on board.  The enlarged Panel will, I’m sure, be a hugely beneficial enhancement to the advertising self-regulatory system.”

The GMP’s role and remit

The GMP’s role will be to:

1. review Executive recommendations on complex or disputed matters;
2. on request from complainants, marketers or their representatives, assess the Executive’s recommendations (before the ASA Council adjudicates).  The findings of the Panels’ assessment will be reported to the ASA Council;
3. advise on the desirability of investigating a complaint or taking action on other  important matters affecting the Codes;
4. consider the conformity of marketing communications to the CAP Code if a second opinion on pre-publication copy advice is requested by a marketer, an agency, the media or the Executive;
5. advise on the handling of controversial or complex matters affecting the interpretation of the Codes;
6. recommend to CAP or BCAP the convening of ad hoc working groups, comprising a Panel of experts approved by the Chairman of CAP and BCAP, to oversee textual revisions if the broadcast or non-broadcast Codes require modification or general review;
7. offer advice on the production of Help Notes, other guidance and Ad Alerts and on copy advice issued by the Executive on behalf of CAP;
8. require the Chairman to keep a watching brief on ASA rulings, draw to the attention of CAP or BCAP any matters that he considers would merit discussion and report on the deliberations of the Panel at CAP and BCAP meetings.

Importantly, two core principles of the Panel remain:

1. The Panel Chairman may reject requests for the Panel’s services to be used if he believes the Panel is being used to hamper the effective running of the self-regulatory system.
2. The ASA Council’s judgement on the interpretation of a code is final, irrespective of opinions offered by the GMP.

Sales Promotion and Direct Response Panel

The Sales Promotion and Direct Response Panel is unaffected by this change.