The "THE ADVERTISING SELF-REGULATORY BOARD" was founded by the advertisers, advertising agencies and media bearing the consciousness that advertisement should be legal, ethical and correct and intends to implement the Advertisement Implementation Principles of the International Chamber of Commerce, having been accepted worldwide.

The Advertising Self-Regulatory Board is a member of the European Advertising Standards Alliance where the Self-Regulatory organizations in Europe are being represented.

Function of Self-Regulatory
The establishment of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Committee
The duties and authorities of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board
The limits of the duties of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board and its respectability
The establishment of the Executive Committee and the Chairmanship of the Board
The duties and working method of the Executive Committee
Method of Application
The transactions to be conducted upon application
Adoption of decisions and their implementation
Consistency of the decisions and their announcement
Binding nature of the decisions
Confidentiality of the Committee meetings
Income of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board
Other provisions

1) Function of Self-Regulatory:

Reklam Özdenetim Kurulu, The Advertising Self-Regulatory Board adopts resolutions about the conformity of all advertisements to be published by the advertising media to the International Code of Advertising Practice (including the special Self-Regulatory arrangements as well).

One of the basic functions of the Board is the adoption of the self-regulatory philosophy by the advertising agencies, advertisers and media and to give them the habit of implementing the Principles by their free will in a manner that will prevent all prospective complaints. The Board will conduct training and promotion studies for the adoption of the self-regulatory concept by all groups concerned.

The resolution of all disputes by the agencies, advertisers and media through shorter and less expensive means instead of resolving them by the Board is encouraged.

2) The establishment of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Committee:

2.1) Advertisers Self-Regulatory Board comprises of 16 persons and the number of representatives from each party is given below:

2.2) The representatives of the advertisers are determined by the Advertisers Association and the representatives of advertising agencies are determined by the Association of Advertising Agencies.

2.3) The private TV institutions and the press institutions that will send representatives will be determined by the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board. Besides the average of the circulation or the audience share of the year before, the status and respectability of the institution concerned in the broadcasting institution will be taken into consideration when making this determination. The circulation or the audience share shall be determined in accordance with a generally accepted research(es) in the sector.

In the event that the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board deems it appropriate, it may also include other media representatives to the Board as well and it may reorganize the distribution of the media representatives.

2.4) The personal participation of the members to the meetings is mandatory. Any member that does not attend at least half of the meetings will be warned. If the absenteeism of the member continues in the same manner during the following six months, the person concerned will lose his membership and he may not be reelected. The above mentioned articles will be taken into consideration when determining the representative to replace the member whose membership has been cancelled.

3) The duties and authorities of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board:

3.1) The Advertising Self-Regulatory Board adopts resolutions with respect to,

• Consumer complaints about misleading advertisements,
• Complaints of advertisers or advertising agencies about each other as a consequence of their commercial communication and promotion activities,
• Misleading or incorrect advertisements brought to the agenda of the Board - with the assistance of the secretariat of the Board when necessary - for protecting the image and increasing the respectability of advertising and sustainability of trust,

3.2) It adopts definite and binding resolutions with respect to

• the objections made by the parties concerned to the resolutions of the Executive Committee,
• the advertisements deemed important by the Executive Committee but having been delegated to Advertising Self-Regulatory Board since it was not urgent,
• the advertisements for which the Executive Committee deems it appropriate that an decision adopted as a principle (opinion) is necessary,

3.3) It may develop and enrich the Principles when it deems necessary by taking into consideration the developments in the advertising sector and the media. It determines material criterions with respect to the definition of dishonest advertisements and informs the parties concerned.

3.4) It provides free of charge copy advice services before broadcasting if a request is received by the advertising agency or the advertisers. The Board indicates its opinion in the event that an application has been made due to indecision about broadcasting.

4) The limits of the duties of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board and its respectability:

4.1)The activities of the public institutions and occupational chambers in the same field as well as their duties and authorities imposed by laws may not prevent the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board from fulfilling its self-regulatory functions on a volunteer basis. The Board engages itself in all kinds of cooperation with respect to the effectiveness of self-regulation.

4.2) The Board shall not deal with any objections or disputes that has previously been referred to judicial authorities or a compromising mechanism through arbitration.

4.3) The institutions having adopted the principles of self-regulation are expected to apply to the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board as an indicator of their trust to self-regulation and the significance they attach to it.

If it is understood that an application has been made to other regulatory institutions along with the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board at the same time or at another time with respect to the same subject, the discussions made in the Board about that matter shall be ceased.

4.4) If it is understood that a legal follow-up or a lawsuit has been initiated about any advertisement that the Board has started to make evaluations about, the discussions made in the Board about that matter shall be ceased. In the event that a legal follow-up or lawsuit is initiated after the adoption of a resolution by the Board and if a request has been made by the judicial authority concerned, a copy of the resolution shall be given to the judicial authority.

4.5) 4.5) The applications of consumers and the advertisements handled by the Board it self will be evaluated under all conditions unless a legal follow-up or a lawsuit is initiated about them.

5) The establishment of the Executive Committee and the Chairmanship of the Board:

The Advertising Self-Regulatory Board elects a chairman from among its members by majority of the votes. The Chairman is also the Chairman of the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee has 6 original and 6 reserve members comprising of two advertisers, two advertising agencies, and two media representatives (one from written media and one from visual media).

The advertisers, advertising agencies and media representatives in the Advertising Self-Regulatory Committee shall nominate two members as original members and two members as reserve members. The members shall be appointed as original and reserve members of the Executive Committee by majority of votes. Furthermore, a deputy chairman shall be elected from among the original members of the Executive Committee by majority votes of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board.

The duty term of the Executive Committee shall be two years. The members whose duty term has ended may be reelected.

6) The duties and working method of the Executive Committee:

6.1) a) The Executive Committee shall evaluate the advertisements about which an complaint has been filed or the ones that it deems to be in violation of the principles, adopt a decision and ask the concerned parties to implement its decisions.

b) It constitutes the infrastructure and the staff that shall be effective for the implementation of the principles.

c) It implements the strategies of promotions and communication with the public to be approved by the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board.

6.2) The Executive Committee meets every first and fourth weeks with the participation of minimum 4 of its members (at least one member from each group). In the event that an original member of the Executive Committee informs that he/she is unable to attend the meeting, the reserve member having been appointed from that group shall participate the meeting. In case of emergencies when it is not possible to conduct a meeting, communication shall be established between the members by fax or e-mail.

6.3) In the event that an advertisement is regarded to be against Principles, the advertiser and the advertising agency of the advertisement -if there is any-, shall be requested to provide a written opinion latest within two days. The Committee shall adopt a resolution in accordance with the information it has gathered if no answer is received in due time in this respect.

In the event that advertisements are clearly in violation of the Principles and need to be stopped immediately, a decision may be adopted without getting the opinion of the advertisers.

In the event that it is obvious that the advertisements are not in violation of the Principles, the applications made with respect to such applications may be finalized without getting the opinion of the advertiser.

When a demand is received with respect to providing oral opinion in addition to written opinion, such demand shall be evaluated by the Executive Committee in accordance with the specifications of the matter and they will be invited to a meeting for hearing their opinion if their demand is accepted. When such a demand is accepted, the other party related with the matter will also be notified in order for them to be able to attend the meeting and indicate their opinion as well. The parties may also submit their oral opinion to the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board if the Executive Committee deems it appropriate.

6.4) The decisions are adopted by majority of votes. However, majority votes should include the opinion of at least one member from each sector.

Decisions to be adopted without seeking opinion require unanimous votes of the participants of the meeting.

6.5) A complaint may be filed by the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board with respect to the decisions adopted by the Executive Committee. The decisions of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board shall be binding.

6.6) When the committees deem it appropriate, they may constitute specialized working groups to be referred to as "expert's groups" comprising of persons who are experts in their fields.

6.7) Whether the committees shall pay a certain fee to its members for each meeting and to the experts for each file and the amount of the fees to be paid as well as the staff to conduct reporting and secretarial services as well as the salaries to be paid to them shall come into effect upon approval of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board following the proposal of the Executive Committee.

6.8) When the Chairman is of the opinion that it can be useful, it may discuss the matters related with the complaints and encourage the parties to reach an agreement between themselves in accordance with the Principles. The application shall be removed from the agenda of the Committees upon resolution of the dispute and the withdrawal of the approval in writing.

7) Method of Application:

7.1) The following parties may file an application to the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board,

7.2) The applications shall be made in writing. The articles of the principles that have been violated will be clearly indicated and a sample of the advertisement (photograph, video cassette etc) will be attached to the application.

8) The transactions to be conducted upon application:

The applications to be made to the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board will primarily be evaluated by the Chairman of the Committee and he/she shall determine the method to be implemented for the resolution of the dispute. The secretariat reporting to the Chairman will perform the following duties by the approval of the Chairman;