Cease and Desist Order

If an advertisement must be discontinued from airing, the ASC may either issue a:

1. Cease and Desist Order (CDO); or
2. Recall of Clearance to Air/Publish/Display.

Cease-and-Desist Order (CDO)

A CDO is issued if a material is found to be in violation of the provisions of the ASC Advertising Standards Code. Ads containing any element that has any reference to a material on CDO status shall not be subjected to screening unless the elements in question are removed from the material. If a revised material, pre-screened by ASC, continues to contain an element which has been CDO’d, a new CDO shall take effect immediately upon receipt of the concerned media sector.

Effective Date of the CDO

In general, the CDO is in immediate effect from receipt of the CDO by the Advertiser and/or Ad Agency when (a) a commercial is found on air without proper ASC clearance, (b) a commercial, whose substantiations accepted at face value solely on the basis of a certification duly signed by an official of high management status have been proven to be false or (c) a commercial, despite previous approval, is deemed to adversely affect public interest.

The Advertiser/Ad Agency shall submit a compliance report on the CDO’d material within five (5) workdays from receipt of the CDO notice. It shall contain the details of the CDO’d materials (e.g., type of materials, coverage, distribution, quantities involved, pull-out schedule, reports, etc). and shall be regularly updated until substantial compliance on the CDO’d material has been implemented or reached. The TechCom shall determine whether or not Advertiser/Ad Agency has substantially complied with the CDO. Failure to submit a compliance report may result in sanctions and penalties due to monitoring of banned ads or materials by the ASC or the original Complainant of the case.

For print ad and OOH ads:

When Print and OOH materials which are covered by pre-screening guidelines have been discovered without the proper ASC Clearance through a complaint or ASC monitoring, the CDO takes effect immediately upon receipt of the CDO notice by the Advertiser/Ad Agency. The corresponding penalty for publication/display without Proper ASC Clearance shall be imposed upon determination of the infraction.
-When print ads are found to be violative of ASC Advertising Standards Code, the CDO takes effect immediately upon receipt of the CDO by the Advertiser/Ad Agency (these are the post-screened and complained).- Advertisers/Advertising Agencies whose print/collateral material has been issued a Cease and Desist Order by the ASC must advise the Secretariat, in writing within one (1) working day upon receipt of the formal decision, of any advance placement that are no longer cancelable. – Failure to advise will subject those placements to sanctions, as stipulated in this Manual of Procedures.
The written advice on the non-cancelable print placement must be accompanied with agency publication order and Publisher’s Certification.
The Executive Director and/or the Operations Manager, or Presiding Chairman or the TechCom Chairman may verify whether the material is really non-cancelable.
Any subsequent material of the brand after a CDO must be pre-screened.
Any revision of the CDO’d material must be pre-screened prior to publication.

For broadcast and cinema ads:

For any broadcast materials (TVC and RC) and Cinema ad, when complained and issued a Cease and Desist Order (CDO), the CDO’d material/s must not be on air/exhibited effective five (5) working days from receipt of the CDO by the Advertiser and/or official Ad Agency-of-Record or its official representative. Media/networks will also be advised of the CDO.

For Out-of-Home ads:

a. Billboards (Electronic or Static display)

For all billboards or similar types, previously approved by the ASC prior to its display or installation but found to be in violation of the ASC Code of Ethics after a Case Hearing brought by a complaint, effective date of the CDO will be Seven (7) calendar days from receipt of the CDO notice by the Advertiser/Ad Agency.

b. Street Furniture / Fixtures & Transit Ads (lamp post banners, bus, MRT/Train, building, airplane)

For street furniture and transit ads not previously approved by the ASC, effective date of the CDO is ten (10) calendar days from receipt of the CDO notice by the Advertiser/Ad Agency.

For merchandising materials:

For merchandising materials, PoS, PoPs (e.g., posters and collaterals) CDO’d due to violation of the ASC Code of Ethics after a post-screening and/or case hearing brought by a complaint, the material must be pulled out within thirty (30) calendar days from receipt of the CDO notice by the Advertiser/Ad Agency.

For digital ads:

Internet or Digital advertisements (Third-party UGC (User Generated Content) and/or viral marketing which contain CDO’d claims that has been distributed or propagated by the advertiser must be pulled out effective five (5) working from receipt of the ASC Decision by the advertiser and/or advertising agency or its official representative.

Penalties for Offenses/Violation against/of CDOs

For merchandising materials:

The 1st Offense Penalty may be imposed when CDO’d materials are monitored as being displayed on the day after the last day of pull-out period as indicated above. 31st day upon receipt of the CDO notice by the Advertiser and/or Advertising Agency or Advertiser’s official representative.
The 2nd Offense Penalty may be imposed when CDO’d materials are monitored as being displayed on the 15th day after the 1st Offense Penalty has been imposed and such notice of violation was received by the Advertiser and/or Advertising Agency or Advertiser’s official representative.
The 3rd Offense penalty may be imposed when a CDO’d materials are monitored displayed 7th day after the 2nd Offense penalty has been imposed and such notice of violation was received by the Advertiser and/or Advertising Agency or its official representative.

For all other ads and totality of penalties:

An advertiser shall be penalized every time the violative material continues to be aired/published displayed after the prescribed deadline of pull-out/pull-down of violative materials.

Each violation regardless of medium committed by the advertiser/ad agency of the CDO and its corresponding deadline shall merit a penalty; and shall be cumulatively considered. The next offense penalty shall be imposed three (3) days after (i) the previous penalty has been imposed and (ii) the advertiser has been notified. To illustrate, a violative billboard must be pulled down 7 calendar days from receipt of CDO. If on the 8th day, the billboard is still displayed, this merits a 1st offense penalty. If on the 12th day, it is still displayed, this merits a 2nd offense penalty. If on the 31st day, a violative POSM is still displayed, this merits a 3rd offense penalty.

The TechCom shall prioritize CDO sanction cases. In case of unavoidable delay on the part of TechCom to decide or in the absence of an applicable rule, the TechCom shall have discretion to issue the penalty that is fair under the circumstances.

Implementation of a Government Agency’s CDO

The ASC shall continue to cooperate and assist in the implementation of CDOs issued by government agencies (e.g., BFAD, DOH, DOA, DTI, etc) on a voluntary basis.

The ASC shall implement its corresponding CDO effective immediately for products or brands issued a CDO by a government agency or office and with materials currently on air or being published or displayed.

Recall of Clearance to Air (RCA)

The ACS shall be issue a Recall of Clearance to air due to any of the following:

1. Government agency ruling
2. Violation of the Law of the Land
3. Reasons of technicality upon the determination of the TechCom
4. Widespread concern on public safety or sensitivity

For reasons of technicality, the ASC shall give due process to the Advertiser/Ad Agency being complained on prior to the issuance of the RCA. The TechCom, through the ASC Executive Director, shall notify the Advertiser/Ad Agency of the recall, the complaint and rationale for the recall. The ASC may also invite the Advertiser/Ad Agency to respond to the complaint. The RCA shall be issued after review of the TechCom of the case and issues.