ASCI clarifies: Did not advise members to withhold ads from June 18 to July 9

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has said its advice to advertisers and broadcasters to not release advertisements from June 18 till July 9th and wait for the Supreme Court's clarification on the self-declaration certificate (SDC) was misconstrued in the press.

Manisha Kapoor, CEO & Secretary General of ASCI, clarified:

ASCI would like to clarify that it has asked its members or others not to issue any new advertisement without a self-declaration certificate (SDC). Any new ad post June 18th can be released with the SDC as mandated by the Supreme Court and as notified by MIB.  

Marketers and agency folks have raised concerns about the self-declaration certificate mandate from the Supreme Court; it requires all ads to obtain an SDC before being released to the public regardless of medium.

A report from the Economic Times – it carried the advice which ASCI has clarified – said the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF), and Indian Newspaper Society (INS) had requested the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) keep the implementation of the SDC mandate on hold to give the industry enough time to meet the new regulatory norms.