UK advertising rules explained: CAP, BCAP, the ASA, HFSS and green claims

Last verified 2 September 2026. The Advertising Standards Authority resolved more than 40,000 complaints about 25,397 ads in 2025 and had over 22,000 ads amended or withdrawn, while its AI monitoring system scanned close to 60 million online ads. Advertising standards in the UK are no longer a matter of waiting for a member of the public to complain.

Who regulates what

The ASA is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media. It does not write the rules. Two sister bodies do: the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) writes the CAP Code for non-broadcast advertising, and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) writes the BCAP Code for TV and radio services licensed by Ofcom. The system is funded by the industry through a levy on ad spend, and the ASA can act on a single complaint.

Ofcom sits behind the ASA on broadcast. It contracts day-to-day regulation of TV and radio advertising to the ASA and acts as the legal backstop, with power to fine broadcasters or revoke licences. Ofcom also owns the Online Safety Act duties on fraudulent advertising.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) enforces consumer protection law, which since 6 April 2025 includes the power to fine businesses directly under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. It wrote the Green Claims Code and co-authored the influencer guidance with CAP. Trading Standards is the ASA’s legal backstop for non-broadcast advertising.

Two sector regulators overlap with the ASA. The Financial Conduct Authority requires every financial promotion to be clear, fair and not misleading, and can ban a promotion outright. The Gambling Commission makes compliance with the CAP and BCAP Codes a condition of every operator’s licence. Clearcast and Radiocentre are not regulators, but no TV ad airs on the major commercial channels without Clearcast’s clearance.

How the CAP Code is structured

The CAP Code, formally the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct and Promotional Marketing, has 22 substantive sections. The first six are general and apply to every ad: compliance, recognition of marketing communications, misleading advertising, harm and offence, children, and privacy. Sections 7 to 10 cover political ads, promotional marketing, distance selling and use of data.

Sections 11 to 22 are sector rules: environmental claims, medicines and health, weight control, financial products, food and nutrition, gambling, lotteries, alcohol, motoring, employment and business opportunities, tobacco, and electronic cigarettes. A gambling ad has to satisfy sections 1 to 6 and section 16 at the same time. The BCAP Code follows a similar map.

The Code’s remit keeps widening. In March 2011 it was extended to advertisers’ own websites and social media. On 1 September 2025 CAP extended it again to non-paid social posts aimed at UK consumers by advertisers whose licence requires Code compliance, even without a UK company address. An offshore gambling operator’s organic TikTok account is now inside the Code.

The rules most often broken

Misleading advertising is the dominant category year after year, and the reason is usually evidence rather than intent. Rule 3.7 requires advertisers to hold documentary evidence for objective claims before publication, not after a complaint arrives. “Clinically proven”, “the UK’s number one” and “up to 50% off” all fail when the substantiation is thin or the conditions are hidden.

Recognition of ads is the second recurring problem, driven by influencer marketing. CAP’s 2025 monitoring found 57% of influencer posts were correctly disclosed, up from 35% in 2021 but still leaving four in ten non-compliant, with travel and fashion the weakest sectors. The rule is simple: if a brand has paid or gifted and has any editorial control, the post is an ad and must be obviously identifiable as one before the audience engages with it.

What has changed recently

The HFSS advertising ban

The restrictions on less healthy food and drink advertising took legal effect on 5 January 2026, after a voluntary compliance period that began on 1 October 2025, the original commencement date. The delay happened because the government chose to write the brand-only advertising exemption into law through the Advertising (Less Healthy Food and Drink) (Brand Advertising Exemption) Regulations 2025. ITV, Channel 4 and Sky committed to the October date anyway.

Two rules now apply, as Wiggin’s summary sets out. Ads for identifiable less healthy products cannot air on Ofcom-regulated TV and on-demand services between 5.30am and 9pm. Paid online advertising for those products is banned at all times. The regime applies to businesses with 250 or more employees, and a product is caught if it falls within one of 13 scheduled categories and scores 4 or more (food) or 1 or more (drink) under the 2004 to 2005 Nutrient Profiling Model.

Exemptions cover brand-only ads that show no identifiable product, audio-only content, digital out-of-home, business-to-business advertising, unpaid content on a brand’s own channels and transactional content. The ASA enforces the rules with Ofcom as statutory backstop. Smaller businesses stay under the existing CAP and BCAP food rules, which already restrict targeting under-16s.

The DMCC Act: fake reviews, drip pricing and direct fines

The consumer provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 came into force on 6 April 2025. Two new banned practices matter most for advertisers: fake or incentivised reviews that conceal the incentive, and drip pricing, where mandatory charges are revealed late in the purchase journey. The headline price must now include every unavoidable fee.

The bigger shift is enforcement. The CMA no longer has to go to court and can fine businesses directly up to 10% of annual worldwide turnover. Subscription contract rules under the same Act are still awaiting secondary legislation. The Act also underpins the CMA’s green claims work, so a greenwashing claim that would once have earned an ASA ruling can now attract a turnover-based penalty.

The Online Safety Act and scam ads

On 10 July 2026 Ofcom published draft Fraudulent Advertising Codes of Practice under the Online Safety Act. The nearly 40 proposed measures apply to the largest social media and search platforms (Category 1 and 2A services) and cover paid-for advertising only. They include verifying that advertisers represent the businesses they claim to, checking that financial services advertisers hold FCA authorisation, and fast-track reporting for trusted flaggers.

The consultation closes on 2 October 2026 and Parliament must approve the codes before enforcement, with fines of up to £18 million or 10% of global revenue once in force. For legitimate advertisers the practical effect is more identity verification at platform level.

2026 procedure and guidance updates

According to Osborne Clarke’s June 2026 outlook, the ASA updated its complaint-handling procedures on 29 May 2026, giving itself the right to decline late evidence and to issue provisional views on likely outcomes. On 11 June 2026 CAP issued an enforcement notice telling gambling advertisers to amend or withdraw immediately any live ad with strong appeal to under-18s. In the same month CAP published guidance notes on AI-generated content, on accessibility and material information, and on assessing each ad in a campaign independently.

What is banned outright

• Tobacco advertising, in any medium, under the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002. E-cigarette ads with nicotine are banned on TV, radio, online and in most print; the CAP Code permits only limited factual non-broadcast formats.
• Prescription-only medicines advertised to the public, including the weight-loss injections the ASA named as its top compliance issue in 2025.
• Paid online ads and pre-9pm TV ads for identifiable less healthy food and drink from businesses with 250 or more employees.
• Gambling ads with strong appeal to under-18s, and gambling ads featuring anyone who is or appears to be under 25 in a significant role.
• Ads for products that cannot lawfully be sold, and financial promotions that have not been issued or approved by an FCA-authorised person.
• Fake reviews, hidden incentives for reviews and drip pricing, now banned practices under the DMCC Act.

What needs care: the sector rules

Alcohol

Section 18 of the CAP Code is a social responsibility regime. Ads must not link alcohol to social or sexual success, suggest it enhances confidence, show it handled irresponsibly, or appeal particularly to under-18s. Nobody who is, or looks, under 25 may play a significant role, and placement must keep under-18s below 25% of the audience. CAP’s 2025 monitoring found 96% compliance, with alcohol-free variants of alcohol brands the harder edge.

Gambling

Since 1 October 2022 rule 16.3.12 has prohibited gambling ads with strong appeal to children or young persons, regardless of how adults view them. CAP and BCAP updated the guidance on 14 October 2025, setting a rule of thumb that a personality with at least 100,000 social media follower accounts registered to under-18s is likely to be of strong appeal, while making clear that the ASA can decide either way depending on context. Top-flight footballers, reality stars and gaming streamers are the obvious risk. The Gambling Commission holds the operator responsible for how affiliates and creators promote the brand.

Financial products

Section 14 of the CAP Code covers non-technical aspects of financial ads, but the FCA’s rules take precedence for regulated products. Every financial promotion must be clear, fair and not misleading, must be issued or approved by an authorised firm, and must carry the prescribed risk warnings for investments and cryptoassets. The FCA’s 2024 social media guidance is media-neutral, so a 15-second finfluencer clip carries the same obligations as a press ad.

Influencer disclosure

Rules 2.1, 2.3 and 2.4 require ads to be obviously identifiable as such. In practice that means a clear label such as “Ad” that is visible before the viewer engages, not a hashtag buried in the caption or a mention 40 seconds in. Gifted products with any brand control count, as do affiliate links.

Environmental claims

Section 11 of the CAP Code and the CMA’s Green Claims Code, published on 20 September 2021, share six tests. Claims must be truthful and accurate, clear and unambiguous, must not omit or hide important information, must compare fairly, must consider the full life cycle and must be substantiated. The ASA’s December 2023 rulings against Air France, Lufthansa and Etihad established that absolute claims such as “fly more sustainably” cannot be substantiated by an industry with no commercially viable low-carbon technology in operation. Charles Tyrwhitt’s “carbon neutral business” line fell the same month because the basis was not in the ad.

The CMA’s March 2024 undertakings from ASOS, Boohoo and George at Asda set the compliance benchmark: internal policies, training, supplier due diligence and spot checks on listings. Since April 2025 the same conduct can be fined directly.

How a complaint works

Anyone can complain, and increasingly nobody needs to. Proactive work took 45% of the ASA’s regulatory resource in 2025, against 5% in 2012, according to Lewis Silkin’s reading of the annual report. The ASA assesses each case against the Codes and its prioritisation principles, which weigh the harm involved. Many cases end informally, with the advertiser agreeing to change the ad.

A formal investigation starts with a letter to the advertiser, its agency, the media owner and any clearance body, setting out the complaint and the rules engaged. The advertiser has seven working days to respond with evidence, or five in harm and offence cases, and silence can itself be a breach. The executive drafts a recommendation and the independent ASA Council decides, meeting weekly. Rulings are published under embargo to the parties, and either side has 21 days to seek an Independent Review on grounds of a substantial flaw or new evidence.

Sanctions

The ASA cannot fine. Its sanctions work through publicity and the industry’s own trading relationships, starting with a published ruling carrying the advertiser’s name. Persistent offenders join the non-compliant online advertisers list, 27 strong on 2 September 2026, and the ASA can ask search engines to remove their paid-search ads and buy its own search ads naming them. Influencers who keep failing to disclose can be named for three months.

Offline, CAP can issue Ad Alerts telling media owners to withhold space, withdraw trading privileges, require pre-vetting of poster campaigns for up to two years, and disqualify ads from industry awards. The legal backstops carry the real money: Trading Standards, Ofcom, the FCA, the Gambling Commission and now the CMA.

How to pre-clear

Television is the only medium with mandatory pre-clearance. Clearcast checks scripts, rough cuts and final ads against the BCAP Code before the channels it clears for will accept them, and its stakeholder broadcasters pay for the service rather than the advertiser. Final clearance usually takes two to three working days once the script is approved. Radiocentre performs the same role for commercial radio, with mandatory pre-vetting for special categories including financial products, gambling, alcohol, health, slimming and environmental claims.

Non-broadcast ads are not cleared in advance, but CAP’s Copy Advice service reviews copy confidentially against the CAP Code, free of charge in three to five working days, or £150 to £600 for 48-hour to four-hour responses. The advice is not binding on the ASA, but if a complaint later arrives the ASA is told what was advised. Financial promotions also need sign-off by an FCA-authorised firm.

What this means for advertisers

• Assume you will be found. Active Ad Monitoring scanned nearly 60 million ads in 2025 and launched 36 proactive projects from what it saw.
• Build the evidence file before the brief is signed off. Every objective claim needs documentary substantiation on the day the ad goes live.
• Treat the CMA as a regulator with teeth. Reviews, headline prices and green claims are now fineable at 10% of global turnover.
• If you sell food or drink and employ 250 people or more, run every product through the Nutrient Profiling Model and separate brand-only creative from product creative.
• Put the ad label at the front of every influencer post and write it into the contract, with the right to take the post down.
• In gambling, screen every talent choice against the under-18 follower test before the deal is done, not after the ruling.
• Use Copy Advice for anything borderline. It is free.

FAQs

What is the difference between the CAP Code and the BCAP Code?

The CAP Code covers non-broadcast advertising: print, outdoor, online, social, email, direct mail, cinema and advertisers’ own websites. The BCAP Code covers ads on TV and radio services licensed by Ofcom, including teleshopping and sponsorship credits. Both are enforced by the ASA.

Can the ASA fine an advertiser?

No. The ASA relies on publication, Ad Alerts, search sanctions and trading privileges. Fines come from the legal backstops: Ofcom for broadcasters, Trading Standards and the CMA for non-broadcast consumer law, the FCA for financial promotions and the Gambling Commission for licensees.

When did the HFSS advertising ban start?

The law took effect on 5 January 2026. Industry compliance was voluntary from 1 October 2025, the original commencement date, while the brand advertising exemption was written into regulations.

Sources

• ASA and CAP: Advertising Codes, Sanctions, Copy Advice and non-compliant advertisers pages; CAP Code scope statement, 1 September 2025; gambling guidance update, 14 October 2025
• Lewis Silkin on the ASA and CAP Annual Report 2025, 14 April 2026; Osborne Clarke Regulatory Outlook, June 2026
• Wiggin LLP on the less healthy food advertising restrictions; Baker Botts on the DMCC Act, April 2025; techUK on Ofcom’s draft fraudulent advertising codes, July 2026
• CMA Green Claims Code, 20 September 2021; Foot Anstey on ASA green claims rulings, 2 February 2024
• Clearcast and Radiocentre clearance pages; Gambling Commission LCCP 5.1.6; FCA financial promotions page