The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is consulting on updates to the Advertising Standards Code, with submissions due by 22 June 2026.
What is changing and why?
The Code – which sets out rules for responsible advertising – is being refreshed to keep pace with recent ASA decisions and shifting community standards. The proposed changes mostly involve:
- Rewording some existing rules for greater clarity
- New or expanded guidelines on the most frequently applied rules
- Removing rules that the ASA believes may be redundant.
What does this mean for your business?
Although these are not wholesale changes to the Code's core requirements, an ASA decision on a complaint can turn on the interpretation of a single word. Advertisers will need to be prepared to assess advertisements against the new requirements.
Key proposed changes at a glance
Environmental claims – more guidelines for green advertising
The Code already requires specific environmental claims (eg "more environmentally friendly") to be backed by evidence of a real and meaningful environmental benefit. The proposed new guidelines go further, spelling out that "meaningful" environmental benefit means:
- Quantifiable and supported by credible data
- Relevant across the product or advertising life cycle
- Clearly contextualised and validated by recognised standards or frameworks
- Material enough to influence environmental outcomes or consumer choice.
New guidelines also clarify when an ad "condones" environmental damage, for example trivialising or glamourising environmentally harmful practices, and omitting information that would affect a consumer's understanding of environmental impact.
Truthful presentation – removal of "balance" requirement
Generally only minor wording changes are proposed to the rule relating to truthful presentation and misleading claims – one of the most frequently invoked rules. However, the reference to advertisements needing to be "balanced" in the truthful presentation principle will be removed and replaced with a reference to substantiation. The reasoning for this is not stated, but it may be directed at better reflecting what is in the relevant rules. The ASA's commentary also flags key areas/themes generating complaints under the truthful presentation rule, namely:
- Health and environmental claims
- ‘Natural’, ‘safe’ and ‘chemical free’ messaging
- Nutritional claims (eg ‘low sugar’, ‘natural ingredients’)
- Price transparency (eg hidden fees, conditional discounts).
Advocacy advertising – clearer fact vs opinion guidelines
Factual statements in advocacy advertising (including issues-based and political advertising) must be substantiated. The proposed guidelines include an explanation of what is fact vs opinion, and add a practical requirement – headings, layout and language must consistently indicate whether a statement is presented as a fact (verifiable) or an opinion (subjective).
Decency and offensiveness – removal of the "widespread" offence threshold
This is a part of the Code that attracts the most complaints. Currently, the Code requires that ads must not include anything that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. A notable change is the proposed removal of the word "widespread", which the ASA says is difficult to define and apply consistently.
Updates are also proposed to the humour and satire carve-out. The current test (permissible if "not likely to cause harm or serious or widespread offence") would become "provided they do not cause serious offence or reinforce harmful bias". The ASA commentary observes that societal value shifts include increasing sensitivity to issues of gender, race and mental health.
Unsafe practices – clearer guidance on "condoning"
The rule on encouraging or condoning unsafe practices is simplified. New guidelines clarify what "condoning" dangerous behaviour or unsafe practices means – including behaviours that pose a risk to mental health or that glamourise or trivialise risk.
Privacy – a new "appropriateness" requirement
Ads must now only "appropriately" portray or refer to personal information that is publicly available. Guidance on what "appropriately" means is not provided, and it's not clear what the new word is intended to add to the prior test. The privacy requirements of the Code (particularly the requirements for consent in some cases) continue to diverge slightly from those imposed by the Privacy Act 2020.
Removal of two rules
Two rules are proposed for removal where they have attracted no recent complaints and the ASA believes that the subject matter is covered elsewhere – specifically the rule on having appropriate consent from a consumer before engaging in personalised direct advertising communications (partly covered by the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act) and the rule on exploitation of children (which could be covered under the decency and offensiveness rule or in some cases the Children's Advertising Code).
AI in advertising – watch this space
The ASA has not proposed specific AI guidance, but asks for feedback on whether the Code should address AI in advertising. Issues that might be considered here include the use of AI-generated imagery/deepfakes, transparency over AI-generated content, and additional substantiation/verification requirements for generative AI.
What happens next?
Once the ASA has reviewed submissions, a final proposed Code will go to the ASA Governance Board for approval and publication. An implementation timeline has not yet been confirmed.
Get in touch with our consumer law team if you want help assessing the impact of the changes on your business, preparing a submission, or updating your compliance programme once the revised Code is finalised.
