Misleading Ads: ASCI directs Holding Advertisements pending SC clarity on Self-Declaration Certificate Mandate

The council emphasized that advertisers should wait for further clarity from the Supreme Court on the implementation of the SDC mandate, which will be revisited in court on July 9.  

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), acting on a Supreme Court directive, has mandated that all new advertisements must include an SDC before they can be published, aired, or displayed. This directive follows a case concerning misleading medical advertisements, and currently, the requirement applies exclusively to new ads. Existing advertisements are exempt from this mandate, reports the Daily.

Various industry bodies, such as the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), are considering getting involved in the ongoing legal proceedings between the Indian Medical Association and the Union of India.

ISA, alongside the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF) and the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), has petitioned the MIB to delay the SDC implementation, reports Economics Times. They argued that the industry needs more time to comply with the new regulatory requirements. They also contended that the SDC mechanism should be limited to medical ads since the Supreme Court's case pertains specifically to misleading medical advertisements.

According to the new guidelines, advertisers must obtain the SDC through the Broadcast Seva portal for TV and radio ads and through the Press Council of India (PCI) portal for print and digital ads. This new procedure has raised concerns about the confidentiality of ad assets, as the SDC submission process makes ad materials accessible to the public.

In its letter to the ministry, the INS argued that existing regulatory frameworks, which are currently effective, should be enhanced instead of introducing a broad SDC requirement. They, too, suggested that the SDC should be restricted to medical ads. Despite the pushback, the MIB has made it clear that the SDC mandate will take effect on June 18 for all new advertisements across TV, digital, print, and radio platforms.

This came after the healthcare sector emerged as the top violator in the realm of digital media advertising as the sector accounted for 19% of all ads processed, making it the most violative sector for the year. Out of a total of 8,062 ads that required modifications, 1569 were from the healthcare sector.