In June 2004, EASA brought together more than 130 representatives from all sectors of the advertising industry for a Self-Regulatory Summit. In the presence of representatives of the European Commission a Self-Regulatory Charter was signed. This Charter, building upon the EASA Statement of Common Principles and Operating Standards of Best Practice and EASA’s Best Practice Self-Regulatory Model commits the advertising industry to increased moral and financial support for self-regulatory systems across Europe. It concentrates on the need for strict codes to reflect developments in the marketplace and society in general.

EASA then launched the “Get-Fit Programme”, which aims at improving existing self-regulatory systems through the introduction of best practice and by setting up new systems in new EU member and candidate states. In 2005 EASA presented these commitments in a white paper to the European Commission with a pledge to report back on the validation process by the end of 2007. The validation report showed that although not all commitment targets were reached, great progress was made and continues to be made.

The EASA Charter and the subsequent Charter Validation Process were a kick start which encouraged and continues to encourage best practice implementation. Although EASA has no formal commitment to further report on the Charter Validation process it continues to dedicate substantial resources to encourage further best practice adoption and to periodically update all stakeholders.

 Download the Charter [Pdf, 132Kb]

 Download the EASA Statement of Common Principles [Pdf, 456Kb]

 Download EASA's Best Practice Self-regulatory Model [Pdf, 456KB]

 Download the White Paper submitted to the European Institutions in 2005 [Pdf, 444Kb]

 Download the Charter Validation Executive Summary submitted to the European Institutions at end of 2007 [Pdf, 601Kb]

 Download the latest version of the Charter Validation Executive Summary [Pdf, 606Kb - June 2008]