Advertising Standards Bureau Review of Operations 2015 | Page 4

Who we are
2015
The Advertising Standards
Bureau (ASB) administers
Australia’s national system
of self-regulation in
relation to both public and
competitor complaints.

In 2015 the ASB administered the following
codes of practice:

•

ANA Code for Advertising and Marketing
A
Communications to Children

This is achieved through the independent
complaints resolution processes of the Advertising
Standards Board and the Advertising Claims
Board respectively.

•

ANA Food and Beverages Advertising and
A
Marketing Communication Code

•

ANA Environmental Claims in Advertising
A
and Marketing Code

The ASB has an ongoing commitment to
international best practice in advertising
self-regulation and measures its performance
in administering Australia’s advertising
self ‑regulation system against international
standards. The European Advertising Standards
Alliance (EASA), the World Federation of
Advertisers and the International Chamber of
Commerce Consolidated Code of Advertising and
Marketing Communication Practice all provide
important benchmarks in this area.

•

ederal Chamber of Automotive Industries
F
(FCAI) Voluntary Code of Practice for Motor
Vehicle Advertising

•

ustralian Food and Grocery Council
A
(AFGC) Responsible Children’s Marketing
Initiative of the Australian Food and
Beverage Industry

The Bureau was established in 1998 for the
purposes of:

The ASB also works with the Alcohol Beverages
Advertising Code (ABAC) management
scheme, and accepts, and forwards to the ABAC
administrator, all complaints about alcohol
advertisements in order to provide a seamless
complaint lodgement system for consumers.

•

e stablishing and monitoring a self-regulatory
system to regulate advertising standards
in Australia

•

romoting confidence in, and respect for, the
p
general standards of advertising on the part of
the community and the legislators

•

e xplaining the role of advertising in a free
enterprise system

•

r unning other regulatory systems as
contracted from time to time.

2

•

•

ustralian Association of National
A
Advertisers (AANA) Advertiser Code
of Ethics

FGC Quick Service Restaurant Initiative
A
for Responsible Advertising and Marketing
to Children

Public complaints about particular advertisements,
in relation to the issues below, are considered
cost-free to the community by the Advertising
Standards Board:
•

health and safety

•

use of language

•

se of sexual appeal in a manner that is
u
exploitative and degrading

•

discriminatory portrayal of people

•

concern for children

•

portrayal of violence, sex, sexuality and nudity

•

advertising to children

•

advertising of food and beverages

•

advertising of motor vehicles

An independent review process continues to
provide the community and advertisers a channel
through which they can appeal decisions made by
the Advertising Standards Board.
Competitor claims between advertisers in relation
to truth, accuracy and legality of particular
advertisements are considered on a user-pays basis
by the Advertising Claims Board.

Advertising Standards Bureau