Centre to issue advisory easing rules for self-declaration for advertisements

New Delhi: The ministry of information and broadcasting will shortly issue an advisory to ease the rules on self-declaration of The advisory will be addressed to all advertisers and advertising agencies, and media stakeholders running ads on TV channels, in print media and on the internet. “Accordingly, in light of the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, and in supersession of previous Advisories dated 03.06.2024 and 05.06.2024, advertisers/advertising agencies issuing HT had reported on June 26 that the MIB would reduce the sectors for which the SDCs are required, following a meeting with industry associations and digital advertising platforms, including Google and Meta on June 25. In the two meetings with MIB, on June 11 and June 25, respectively, industry associations representing advertisers, advertising agencies, print and digital publishers, social media companies, and many others had asked the ministry to limit the requirement for SDCs to health and food products and raised concerns about the onerous workflow. The Supreme Court, in its May 7 order in the case of misleading ads related to health and food products by Patanjali, had directed that before the ad was printed, aired or displayed, the advertiser or the advertising agency must submit a self-declaration to the MIB’s Broadcast Seva Portal before it is aired. “No Subsequently, on June 3, the MIB, to comply with the apex court’s directive, had directed all advertisers to obtain self-declaration certificates for each advertisement from the Broadcast Seva Portal for all radio and television ads and from the Press Council of India’s portal for print and internet/digital advertisements.