Concerned about the laboriousness of the Supreme Court mandate requiring advertisers to submit self-declaration certificates (SDCs) to confirm the compliance and truthfulness of their ads before release, industry stakeholders are urging the authorities to consider a one-time declaration to simplify the process.
Stakeholders, including marketers and broadcasters, have questioned the directive, saying it is contrary to the government’s idea of promoting
‘ease of doing business’ in the industry.
A senior executive from a broadcasting major, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Of course it is a tedious process to submit a certificate before every ad. It will make things simpler if a one-time declaration is allowed. The current directive is contrary to the government’s idea of promoting ease of business, which they have talked about many times on various forums.”
Echoing the view, another expert said, “We are complying with the direction. But it is a mammoth task for advertisers to do this. It should be done once and not repeatedly for every ad. It will make it simpler for the advertisers.”
On June 25, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) held a meeting with marketing and media industry bodies and asked them to compile their concerns, which will be presented before the top court during a hearing scheduled on July 9.
The directions for the submission of self-declaration certificate were issued by the apex court on May 7 during the hearing of the Patanjali case wherein the Baba Ramdev-led company was pulled up for its misleading advertisement which had claimed that its medicines were scientifically proven to cure various diseases and that allopathic medicine has severe side effects. During Covid-19 pandemic, the company had also claimed that its medicine ‘Coronil’ was sufficient to cure it and was approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which was denied by the latter.
Hearing this case, the court, in order to protect consumers from being trapped by false, deceptive or misleading ads, had directed advertisers to submit self-declaration certificates assuring that their ads are not misleading.
While the stakeholders are not opposing the SDCs entirely, there are several concerns regarding the implementation process.
According to Yasin Hamidani, Director, Media Care Brand Solutions, “Stakeholders advocating for a one-time self-declaration in India will streamline the processes and reduce bureaucracy. This approach will aim to ease compliance burdens, fostering a more business-friendly environment while ensuring initial adherence to regulatory standards.”
“However, ongoing verification ensures ongoing accountability and consumer protection. Balancing these interests is crucial to maintain fair market practices and uphold advertising standards effectively,” he said.
Anil Solanki, Senior Director, Dentsu X, said that in the short term, allowing a one-time self-declaration could ease the compliance burden on advertisers during this transitional phase.
“However, as the industry adapts, mandating self-declaration for each individual creative is crucial to ensure ongoing accountability and transparency in advertising practices. For the repeat creative, the same certificate should apply,” he said.
The Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and many others have written to the ministry of information and broadcasting expressing their concerns. Apart from seeking permission for a one-time certificate, the ISA had requested postponement of the process until the concerns were heard by the Supreme Court.
ISA concerns:
- Asset Confidentiality: The current upload is not secure, and it seems people could have access to all the materials you upload. This means anyone can search for a brand name and see all current/upcoming assets, impacting confidentiality, especially for new launches.
- Platform Issues: The portal is laggy and tends to hang a lot. This makes the process increasingly encumbering.
- Scope of Assets and Platforms:
- Are KOL assets included? Is this to be done by language for the same creative? Is this to be done by platform?
- What scope of change in the asset necessitates a fresh certificate? Do we need a certificate for any of the social media posts issued by the brand?
- For digital assets, what is the scope of the declaration? Do we need this for all assets or is it only a set of assets? How do we manage dynamic creative ads?
- When it comes to digital certifications, do we need to certify every single creative or only once per campaign?
- What happens if the upload is rejected by MIB?
- Validity and Timing: What is the validity period of the certificate? For instance, if we reuse the same TVC/print ad etc. after 2-3 years, do we need to reapply? Will the declaration be required for each creative, at the start of every campaign, and for every edit? How many days in advance do we as advertisers need to upload the application before the campaign starts
- Updates and Edits: If there is a change to the creative after the application is submitted either before the airing or mid-airing, such as an alteration to the claim, is there a provision to update the same application, or must we submit a new one?
- Specific Cases and Exceptions Is the self-declaration only for new products or is it for new communication? Whether it is required for the advertisement released post-Jun’24 or also for earlier ads. Whether it is required for Influencer content also.
- Certification Specificity:
-Should one application cover all languages and edit durations (similarly for print – all sizes and languages), or do we need a separate application for each?
-Is there a possibility that the certificate can be taken one time for the duration of the asset, at the time of creation for multiple publishers? Does this necessarily have to happen at the start of every campaign?
