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CANON · REGULATION / UK-ASA-CAP

UK Advertising Standards Authority — CAP & BCAP Codes

DefinedTerm · Legislation

The CAP Code (non-broadcast) and BCAP Code (broadcast) require all UK advertising to be legal, decent, honest, and truthful. ASA has published specific guidance on environmental claims (2023): ads must not imply a product's overall environmental impact is neutral or positive without robust lifecycle evidence. Upheld rulings require advertisers to hold substantiating evidence before publication — not after a complaint. Penalty: ad removal, referral to Trading Standards, and reputational sanctions.

TERM CODE
uk-asa-cap
LEGISLATION IDENTIFIER
ASA CAP/BCAP Code
LEGISLATION JURISDICTION
United Kingdom
LEGISLATION LEGAL FORCE
https://schema.org/InForce
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  "@context": [
    "https://schema.org",
    {
      "e3": "https://economy3.org/",
      "hc": "https://holochain.org/",
      "mcp": "https://modelcontextprotocol.io/",
      "p2pShipyard": "https://github.com/darksoil-studio/p2p-shipyard#",
      "skos": "http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#"
    }
  ],
  "@type": [
    "DefinedTerm",
    "Legislation"
  ],
  "@id": "https://economy3.org/regulation/uk-asa-cap",
  "name": "UK Advertising Standards Authority — CAP & BCAP Codes",
  "termCode": "uk-asa-cap",
  "description": "The CAP Code (non-broadcast) and BCAP Code (broadcast) require all UK advertising to be legal, decent, honest, and truthful. ASA has published specific guidance on environmental claims (2023): ads must not imply a product's overall environmental impact is neutral or positive without robust lifecycle evidence. Upheld rulings require advertisers to hold substantiating evidence before publication — not after a complaint. Penalty: ad removal, referral to Trading Standards, and reputational sanctions.",
  "legislationIdentifier": "ASA CAP/BCAP Code",
  "legislationJurisdiction": "United Kingdom",
  "legislationLegalForce": "https://schema.org/InForce",
  "sameAs": "https://www.asa.org.uk/codes-and-rulings/advertising-codes/non-broadcast-code.html",
  "additionalProperty": [
    {
      "@type": "PropertyValue",
      "propertyID": "https://economy3.org/regulation/status",
      "name": "status",
      "value": "in-effect"
    },
    {
      "@type": "PropertyValue",
      "propertyID": "https://economy3.org/regulation/reason",
      "name": "reason",
      "value": "Any brand advertising products in UK channels — digital, print, broadcast, social — that makes environmental or sustainability claims must hold signed evidence before publication. Market3 claim records and evidence hashes are the documentation ASA requires advertisers to hold."
    },
    {
      "@type": "PropertyValue",
      "propertyID": "https://economy3.org/regulation/appliesSectors",
      "name": "appliesSectors",
      "value": ""
    },
    {
      "@type": "PropertyValue",
      "propertyID": "https://economy3.org/regulation/appliesTriggers",
      "name": "appliesTriggers",
      "value": "green-claims,uk-export"
    },
    {
      "@type": "PropertyValue",
      "propertyID": "https://economy3.org/regulation/appliesMaterials",
      "name": "appliesMaterials",
      "value": ""
    },
    {
      "@type": "PropertyValue",
      "propertyID": "https://economy3.org/regulation/jurisdictionRank",
      "name": "jurisdictionRank",
      "value": "4"
    },
    {
      "@type": "PropertyValue",
      "propertyID": "https://economy3.org/regulation/requiresFields",
      "name": "requiresFields",
      "value": "[{\"id\":\"attestation:*\",\"label\":\"Independent attestation\"}]"
    }
  ]
}