UK’s communications regulator Ofcom has set out proposals to renew its co-regulatory arrangements with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for the regulation of broadcast, on demand and video sharing platform advertising.

Under the current arrangements, the ASA acts as the frontline regulator and Ofcom provides a statutory backstop. The longstanding co-regulatory system, which was first established in 2004, has been highly effective and reduces complexity to give consumers a single point of contact for advertising issues across all media, the British regulator said.

“We propose to renew the co-regulatory arrangements without significant changes for a further ten years,” it said in a statement.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media. It applies the codes written by the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP).

The ASA will continue to report details of investigations regularly and this information will be publicly available. The ASA will also continue to provide Ofcom with performance data about its case handling arrangements.

Ofcom also set in motion a public consultation on any changes if needed in the arrangements with the ASA.

Ofcom has also set out principles for analysing self- and co-regulation. These are intended to set a clear framework under which it can consider if and when it may be appropriate to operate a co-regulatory system. Those principles provide that an effective regulatory body should have the following:

• Independent governance and decision making.
• Clear public accountability.
• Clear regulatory objectives set out in a code.
• Clear and transparent processes, which are followed.
• Workable membership incentives (where relevant) and/or obligations for or on those it regulates.
• Secure and sufficiently independent funding and budget control;
• accessibility to those seeking redress.
• Genuine powers of investigation.
• Effective powers of enforcement and sanction.