Safeguarding the way products are advertised in a free market is the theme of an ICC roundtable taking place in New York on 9 January 2006. Self-regulation is the tried and tested system practised by responsible business worldwide. ICC is concerned that any further legislation over advertising and marketing would be damaging to the global economy. The roundtable will identify possible challenges to self-regulation and what can be done about them.
Rapid technological developments in the media – including television, radio, the Internet, video games and movies – have spurred legislators to propose further regulation. Protecting children and other “vulnerable” groups are themes currently under discussion worldwide. Business, in reply, has to ensure that the present self-regulatory system is robust enough to withstand these developments.
The roundtable will be an exceptional opportunity to hear the views of corporate experts from around the world on developments in advertising and marketing policy and debate these new challenges to self-regulation. The event will also demonstrate the benefit to companies of actively engaging in self-regulation.
The day after the roundtable, the ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising will convene its biannual meeting. Among other issues on the agenda is a major revision and restructuring of the entire self-regulatory framework. The ICC Code of Advertising Practice and other advertising codes are now being updated and consolidated together to form a complete and concise code of advertising and marketing communications practice which would be easy to read and use. ICC is also preparing a roadmap for self-regulation, with the working title “Standing up for advertising self-regulation”, along the lines of previous documents ICC has produced on issues such as globalization and intellectual property.
About ICC
ICC is the world business organization, a representative body that speaks with authority on behalf of enterprises from all sectors in every part of the world. ICC promotes an open international trade and investment system and the market economy. Business leaders and experts drawn from the ICC membership establish the business stance on broad trade and investment policy as well as on vital technical and sectoral subjects. ICC was founded in 1919 and today it groups thousands of member companies and associations from over 130 countries.
About the ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising
ICC has been a major rule-setter of international advertising self-regulation since1937 when the ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising first issued the ICC code on advertising practice - one of the most successful examples of business self-regulation. ICC’s Commission on Marketing and Advertising designs global solutions to issues arising from new marketing techniques by producing codes, principles and guidelines, which assist companies in marketing their products responsibly.
ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising