EXCLUSIVE: MIB to form core committee to address issues with 'self-declaration certificate' mechanism
In its meeting with the industry stakeholders including Meta, Google, ISA, DNPA, and others on June 25, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting also acknowledged the suggestion to limit the mandate to the food and health sectors only. MIB is to submit its affidavit to the Supreme Court on July 9th and a core committee will enable a fair and diverse representation.
In a three-hour long meeting on June 25th, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting addressed key concerns raised by the advertising and media industry about 'self-declaration certificate' (SDC) mechanism, and acknowledged challenges faced by the advertisers. The Ministry is considering simplifying the SDC mechanism, would look into revising the directive, and restricting the regulation to the health and food sector.
Also, as a resolution, the Ministry has decided to form a 'core committee' with key stakeholders including advertisers, before it goes to the top court on July 9th for a fair representation.
It was told to Storyboard18 that in between the meeting, a proposal was made to form a small committee that should work with the Joint Secretary, to take into cognisance all the concerns and the challenges that the industry is facing, otherwise, it will be a standalone representation.
This would further enable the Ministry to include all the major concerns and issues raised thus far in the affidavit that they plan to submit on July 9th.
The committee members will be selected from the existing group of representatives who have been in conversations with the Ministry and have attended the meetings so far.
"They would select the key stakeholders (mostly advertisers) because the whole issue mainly is to do with the advertisers as the onus lies on them. That's where this compliance needs to be restricted, and those are the people who get impacted the most. Ministry will select whichever stakeholder is the most impacted, and the representation from each of these member committees will be shared with the Joint Secretary, and he will put it into the affidavit that needs to go to the Supreme Court," the source shared.
Read more: Advertisers fear 'unviable' SDC will hurt innovation, creativity; Ask for practical solutions
Chaired by I&B secretary Sanjay Jaju, the meeting saw participation from the Department of Consumer Affairs, multiple industry associations including Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF), News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA), Indian Newspaper Society (INS), Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI), FICCI, CII, Google and Meta.
"The meeting went very well. The good part was that the Ministry acknowledged the issues that are evident now after the last advisory and it is very well in concurrence with the industry sentiment that the mechanism is difficult and a mammoth task," said another source, who wished not to be named.
Limiting the regulation to food and health sector
What stemmed from the Patanjali misleading ad case and false health-specific claims, one of the stakeholders added, got extrapolated to all the sectors. Thus, the Ministry also deliberated on whether the interpretation of the Supreme Court order was done correctly or not and further shared its intention to make it limited to the health and food sector.
The SC issued a directive in its order on SDC on May 7, 2024. Following which, the MIB introduced a new feature on the Broadcast Seva Portal (BSP) for TV and radio ads and on the Press Council of India’s (PCI) portal for print and digital/internet ads. The certificate, signed by an authorised representative of the advertiser/advertising agency, needs to be submitted through these portals.
So far, the PCI portal has seen around 35,000 SDC submissions and around 5,000 on the BSP portal.
During the meeting, ISA also urged the Ministry for a 'one-time declaration format' instead of having individual certificates for every ad. Meanwhile, the INS shared technical glitches faced while uploading/submitting the SDCs on the portals. Further, INS also recommended a 'single-declaration letter on compliance' as an alternative and to simplify the process.
Radio industry stakeholders highlighted the revenue loss that they are facing due to the SDC implementation.
During the meeting, the Department of Consumer Protection was asked questions about lapses, and actions taken so far to tighten the roles and responsibilities to instrumentalise the current Order.
Overall, the Ministry while addressing the issues and softening its stance on the matter, noted that it is working towards tuning the regulation-- thus making it simpler for the industry and limiting the scope to the food and health sector.
Before June 25th, the Ministry met the stakeholders on June 11th as well and discussed representations from the same set of stakeholders. Chaired by MIB Secretary, stakeholders raised their concerns about the viability of the SDC mechanism and its impact on the media landscape but saw no resolution.
Advertisers and advertising agencies have shared with Storyboard18 that the volume of advertisements has been impacted significantly. Mainly because many are still finding it challenging to navigate through the whole process of uploading SDC for multiple ads and the portal lags. Advertisers and agencies are also cautious, partly because of clients' confidentiality as well.
Many advertisers and ad agencies also hinted at pausing their ad activities and adopting a wait-and-watch approach for the initial days. Thus impacting the volume of advertising activity, particularly digital, until complete clarity and consensus are achieved.
That apart, advertisers have called it "unviable" and the industry fears the mechanism will also thwart innovation and stifle creativity, and in its place create 'extreme bureaucracy'.
Meanwhile, D2C brands, which are heavily skewed towards digital, shared that they will require additional time and effort to ensure compliance compared to those more focused on traditional media. This has put additional strain on stretched resources, they said.
In a meeting on June 11, the industry associations and stakeholder had requested for the extension of the June 18 deadline on the implementation of SDC but stakeholders were told by industry bodies to begin compliance as mandated, while working on a collaborative approach for the path forward.
