ASA - Advertising Standards Authority

As part of a project to review and streamline its Codes of Practice, the Advertising Standards Authority today released the Therapeutic and Health Advertising Code with accompanying Guidance Notes. The object of this Code is to ensure that advertisers maintain rigorous standards in therapeutic and health advertising.

The Code covers all words and visual depictions in all advertising for therapeutic products (medicines and medical devices), natural health products and dietary supplements, health services and methods of treatment. This Code may also apply when therapeutic or health claims are made in advertisements for other products or services not explicitly listed in the code.

While the format has been updated and guidance notes have been included the Code is effectively a consolidation of three codes, the Therapeutic Products Advertising Code, the Therapeutic Services Advertising Code and the Code for Advertising Weight Management Products and Service.

It is worth noting that the Therapeutic Advertising Pre-Vetting Service (TAPS) is a user-pays service available to all advertisers making therapeutic and health claims to help minimise the risk of breaching the ASA Codes of Practice as well as other industry codes and relevant legislation.

This new Therapeutic and Health Advertising Code comes into effect for new advertising on 1 September 2016 and for existing advertising on 1 December 2016.