Not only the Supreme Court order of submitting the ‘self-declaration certificate’ is in contrast to the Indian government initiative of ‘ease of doing business’ but the increased compliance leads to administrative burden, stifling creativity and such delay in advertising can have broader economic implications, said the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) in its representation to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
In its representation, the national body for advertisers highlighted ambiguities and practical difficulties among other concerns in the implementation of the SDC mechanism, and shared plausible suggestions to strengthen the existing mechanisms to curb misleading ads.
In its letter on May 27 and then again in its representation on June 10, and in the meeting with Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on June 11, ISA acknowledged the responsibility of advertisers to abide by the applicable laws and regulations and engage in truthful advertising but noted the challenges advertisers may face over SDC.
The MIB concluded the meeting of media and ad industry bodies and stakeholders, following the Supreme Court order that all advertisers/advertising agencies must submit SDC before publishing or broadcasting any advertisement. Industry stakeholders raised their concerns about the viability of the SDC mechanism and impact on the advertising and media industries.
According to sources close to the development, the meeting saw no resolutions and provided no relief to stakeholders concerned about impact of the SDC mechanism. On July 9 the ministry will submit an affidavit on the actions taken so far on SDC in the top court. It will also have the opportunity to present reactions of stakeholders to the mandatory SDC directive and mechanism, and their representations.
The meeting saw the participation of representatives from the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation, Advertising Standards Council of India, Digital News Publishers of India (DNPA), Google and senior media executives.
The list of ambiguities in the mechanism included: directive doesn’t clarify whether the SDC needs to be uploaded by the advertiser or the advertisement agency or both; ambiguity over the potential enforcement actions in respect of violations. ISA also shared apprehension that the declarations uploaded by an advertiser could be visible to others including competitors. Also, it noted that the language used in certain parts of the Advertisement Code is overbroad, open-ended, employs vague terms and imposes unreasonable restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression.
Further, it highlighted impact on time-sensitive campaigns, administrative burdens, and economic implications that may be caused on the back of SDC mechanism.
Sharing the proposed solution, not only ISA urged MIB to strengthen the presence of an existing self-regulatory body–ASCI, but asked to enhance the enforcement of existing laws and guidelines. Additionally, it presented alternatives to the SDC mechanism which included considering the submission of a one-time undertaking by each advertiser before undertaking any advertising of any kind.
Read more: Why digital advertisers find Self-Declaration Certificate for ads impractical