Guy Parker and Team Re-elected as EASA Officers

11 May 2015

EASA Chairman and team re-elected by membership at biannual meetings in Madrid.

EASA was warmly welcomed to Madrid for its biannual membership meetings by the Spanish SRO, AUTOCONTROL, at the end of April.

The EASA meetings saw the re-election of Guy Parker (Chief Executive of UK Advertising Standards Authority) and his team – Vice Presidents Dominic Lyle (EACA) and Markus Deutsch (ÖWR) and Treasurer Mathilde Fiquet (FEDMA). They will continue the good work in establishing EASA’s 3 year strategic prioritisation and financial planning.

Regular meetings of the Board, Self-Regulatory Committee, International Council, Central and Eastern European Council took place. Members had the opportunity to discuss topics ranging from how to ensure SRO funding, how to future proof self-regulation, to the application of the country of origin principle to cross-border complaints. The Board gave a green light for EASA to launch the revised Digital Marketing Communications Best Practice Recommendation.
 
However, the hot topic on everyone’s lips was internationalisation. EASA began formal discussions in June last year on how to balance its focus on ad standards in Europe with an increasing need respond to global challenges. Jose-Domingo Gomez-Castallo (AUTOCONTROL) was nominated to lead a working group and presented the resulting ‘Internationalisation White Paper’ during the meetings. The Board approved the proposal to move towards the creation of an International Advertising Standards Alliance and the consultation period has now commenced.

Members also had the opportunity to hear from key external stakeholders at the meetings. As well as a presentation from Facebook on their advertising compliance policy, Nick Stringer (IAB UK) spoke about the recent publication of guidance on Native Advertising.  A glimpse into the future was provided by Daniel Knapp (IHS Technology), who gave an insightful presentation on the data-driven logic of advertising and the challenges in regulating this space.

The meetings were held in conjunction with celebrations of Spanish SRO AUTOCONTROL’s 20 Anniversary. Praising the work of AUTOCONTROL during the celebrations, Spanish Minister for Justice, Rafael Catalá Polo, said “Ads today are not only more sophisticated and intelligent, advertising standards make them truer and fairer“.

AUTOCONTROL is seen as a leading light in the world of ad self-regulation. Director-General, Jose-Domingo Gomez-Castallo was commended as a visionary for his work in guiding the organisation by SROs and industry alike during the event. Since its creation in 1995, AUTOCONTROL has grown from a staff of 3 to 56. To date it has handled more than 131,000 requests for copy advice, manages 19 sectoral codes and has signed 21 agreements with government.
 
For more information please contact jennifer.pearson@easa-alliance.org