Advertising Standards Authority
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is an independent British regulatory body set up by the advertising industry to monitor advertisements in print and broadcast media. The central tenets of its Advertising Code are that adverts must be "legal, decent, honest, and truthful".
As it is not a government body, it has no statutory authority. However, as its rulings are poor publicity for advertisers in breach of the Code, it is usually able to enforce correct observance in Britain. It can also refer some forms of breach – for instance, where breach persists despite warnings, consumer safety is an issue, or there is evidence of fraud – to the government Office of Fair Trading, which does have legal powers to invoke consumer protection laws.
See also
- Ofcom – the British telecommunications and broadcasting regulator
- Press Complaints Commission