For proactive and effective advertising self-regulation and the enhancement of socially responsible advertising in Europe.

Madrid, 7 October 2022

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA), EASA members from the advertising industry, digital pure-play companies, and advertising self-regulatory organisations signed a declaration composed of five commitments reaffirming their collective commitments and establishing new ones to maintain and develop effective and independent advertising self-regulation across European markets in accordance with the principles outlined in the EASA Charter. To ensure a high level of consumer protection and justified trust in advertising for the benefit of all stakeholders and society, EASA members strongly support ad SR, often in conjunction with legal backstops.

Representatives from the Spanish government and the European Commission attended the signing ceremony and delivered keynote speeches. First, Rafael Escudero Alday, Secretary General for Consumer Affairs and Gaming, addressed the audience. The keynote speeches were delivered by María Ángeles Benítez Salas, Director of the Representation of the European Commission in Spain, and Ana Gallego Torres, Director-General of the Directorate-General Justice and Consumers.

By signing the declaration, EASA members commit to promoting robustly funded collective advertising self-regulation; promoting technology-enabled advertising self-regulation; supporting independent and locally rooted advertising self-regulation; enabling a common European approach; supporting responsive, inclusive, effective, and nimble advertising self-regulation, as well as fostering collaborative advertising self-regulation. To ensure the above-mentioned commitments are met, EASA will serve as a forum and a focal point where members can share ideas, develop solutions, and collaborate with relevant stakeholders, non-member organisations, civil society, and academia.

Charo Fernando Magarzo, Chair of EASA, said: “For the 30th anniversary, we did not want to complacently rest on our laurels looking back on our past achievements rather, we wanted to look critically and ambitiously into the future, laying the foundations for next years’ developments in advertising self-regulation to ensure that it remains relevant and useful, for industry, for citizens and for society in general. At the same time, we commit in a more active role for EASA and the SROs in supporting the positioning of advertising as a force for good in promoting social values, such as environmental sustainability, inclusion, diversity, etc. as a response to the challenges we are facing as a society.”

“I am delighted. Today’s signing is a historical milestone for EASA. Not only does it demonstrate our members’ strong belief in the core values which underpin self-regulation such as comprehensiveness, collectiveness, independence, and collaboration but lays the ground for the future by paving the way for the further presence of digital, whether in the membership of the Alliance and in the tools used,” stated Lucas Boudet, Director General of EASA.

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Press Release

Declaration

Signed Declaration (Members Only)

Notes to editors

About EASA:

The European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) is the single authoritative voice on advertising self-regulation issues in Europe. EASA brings together 27 European self-regulatory organisations (SROs), 13 advertising industry associations, including advertisers, agencies, the media and 1 digital pure play company. EASA helps to make sure that ads are legal, decent, honest, truthful, prepared with a sense of social responsibility and created with due respect to the rules of fair competition. The well-enforced ad standards are established by EASA. These ensure that ad self-regulation is better regulation.

For further information on EASA, please visit https://www.easa-alliance.org and @AdvertisingEASA

For press enquiries please contact:

Giulia Bazzano, Communications Officer

giulia.bazzano@easa-alliance.org

communications@easa-alliance.org