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Introduction

The Communications Act allows for the Codes of the legacy regulators to remain in force until such time as Ofcom has developed its own Codes. These will be published at the end of 2004 following a full public consultation.

The Codes currently in force for advertising are:

• Advertising and Sponsorship Code
  Radio Authority
• Advertising Standards Code
  Independent Television Commission
• Rules on the Amount and Scheduling of Advertising
  Independent Television Commission

These are all available on the Ofcom website: www.ofcom.org.uk

The cases have been considered against the above Codes.

• Some advertisements will have breached the relevant code.
• Others will not have breached the code.
• There may also be occasions when advertisements have breached the Codes but no action is necessary, since Ofcom recognises that a broadcaster has taken appropriate action in response to an issue (to rectify or bring about the rectifications of an error). Ofcom will consider that these complaints require no further action. Even when such action has been taken, Ofcom may still consider it appropriate to find the advert in breach of the Code due to the seriousness of the Issues Involved.

The layout of the report reflects these distinctions.

The following table summarises complaints and interventions arising from breaches of the Rules on the Amount and Scheduling of Advertising:

Licensee	Sales House	Comments/Explanation
Central	Carlton	The general principles of the Rules on Amount and Scheduling of Advertising state that licensees should avoid inappropriate juxtapositions between advertising material and programmes. Carlton agreed that an advertisement that jokingly featured a childbirth scene was inappropriate in a break following a particularly emotional interview in the documentary Mandy's Eight Babies.

• Advertising Complaints Bulletin [pdf]
  Issue A05 - Print version
• Breach of relevant Code
  Thomas Cook TV, 118 118 The Number Refund Game, Vectone Phone Cards, Lace International, Ajmeri Baba, Mr Kipling Mince Pies , Film Trailer: Hathyaar

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