Supreme Court mandates self-declaration certificate by advertisers before releasing advertisements

The Supreme Court of India has issued a directive in its order dated May 7, 2024, mandating that all advertisers and advertising agencies must submit a Self-Declaration Certificate before publishing or broadcasting any advertisement. This will be implemented from June 18, 2024.

For TV and radio advertisements, advertisers need to submit the certificate on Broadcast Seva Portal of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), whereas for print and digital media advertisements, certificates should be submitted on the portal of Press Council of India.

The Self-Declaration Certificate is to certify that the advertisement (i) does not contain misleading claims, and (ii) complies with all relevant regulatory guidelines, including those stipulated in Rule 7 of the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 and the norms of Journalistic Conduct of Press Council of India.

Advertisers must provide proof of uploading the Self-Declaration Certificate to the relevant broadcaster, printer, publisher, or electronic media platform for their records. As per the court’s directive, no advertisement will be permitted to run on television, print media, or the internet without a valid Self-Declaration Certificate.

The certificate, signed by an authorised representative of the advertiser/advertising agency, needs to be submitted through these portals.

The portal will be activated on June 4, 2024. The Self- Declaration Certificate is required to be obtained by all advertisers and advertising agencies for all new advertisements that will be issued/telecast/aired/published on or after June 18, 2024.

A buffer period of two weeks has been kept for providing sufficient time to all stakeholders to familiarise themselves with the process of self- certification. Ongoing advertisements do not require the self-certification currently.