Advertising industry bodies are planning to file an intervention petition in the Supreme Court of India to address the new ‘Self Certification’ policy, sources in the advertising industry told ETBrandEquity.

The move is triggered by a notification by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting making self-certification of advertisements on the Broadcast Sewa portal for broadcast ads. The MIB, directed through the Supreme court, notified that a new mandatory “Self Certification” policy will be imposed on all advertisements released from June 18 onwards.

Under the new mandate, advertisements before broadcasting or publishing must be self-certified by advertisers. In this self-declaration, the advertisers “must attest that the advertisement does not make any misleading claims and complies with all relevant regulatory guidelines.” After doing so, the certificate must be signed “by an authorised representative of the Advertiser/company” and uploaded on the Broadcast Sewa portal for broadcast media. A new portal is to be created for print and digital media within four weeks from the date of the Order.

The notification has set the cat among the pigeons in the advertising business. The policy, although meant to improve the standard and quality of advertisements published, has raised concerns for many professionals and stakeholders within the industry who believe that the implementation process is inefficiently designed.