About the authors

The European Commission's proposed consultative document on ‘Commercial Communication within the Internal Market’ should focus on policy objectives. It is only when there is clarity as to the purposes of control that sensible decisions can be made as to the respective roles, across the European Community, of regulation and self-regulation. In the UK, the EC Misleading Advertising Directive has been implemented with the Office of Fair Trading providing a safety net beneath both legal instruments and self-regulatory mechanisms. If self-regulatory mechanisms are to be considered at the EC level, there must be awareness of the strengths and weaknesses. A number of features are identified for self-regulation to be successful. A balance must also be drawn between activity at the EC level and activity at member state level. Standards and enforcement practice should be as consistent as possible, but there is also a need to respect legitimate national, regional and local diversity. The main options are reviewed. There may be a case for a variant of the home authority principle, which has been developed to co-ordinate the domestic ‘cross-border’ work of UK trading standards authorities, to be developed at EC level. The recently formed International Marketing Supervision Network may be a step in that direction.

The forthcoming consultative document will be a vehicle for taking these issues forward. The broad objective should be to secure maximum freedom, transparency and confidence in the market. Effective arrangements, in which both businesses and the public have confidence, are essential for the development of the internal market.