The Commission’s main advocacy focus is on promoting effective self-regulation that is harmonized to best practice around the world. Effective self-regulation builds trust with consumers by ensuring advertising that is honest, legal, decent and truthful, and providing quick and easy redress when transgressions occur. The Consolidated ICC Code forms an integral aspect of this work and has served as the foundation for the national and sectoral codes of most self-regulatory systems existing today. Self-regulatory systems with rules based on the ICC Code are operating in over 35 countries, across 6 continents, spanning Canada, Mexico, most of Europe,, Brazil, India and South Africa. Also, the ICC Code is being used to develop rules and new self-regulatory systems in a half dozen other countries including China, Serbia, Croatia and the Ukraine.

In addition to the common foundation they provide, the value of the ICC codes is in their ability to apply flexibly to local law and culture while being regularly updated and adapted to address new practice and technology developments. Chaired by Brent Sanders of Microsoft, the ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising produces the codes with wide consultation among industry representatives and experts within ICC membership and beyond it to ensure widespread support and consensus.