Working Principles

WORKING PRINCIPLES OF THE ADVERTISING SELF-REGULATORY BOARD (BYLAW)

The “THE ADVERTISING SELF-REGULATORY BOARD” (RÖK) was founded by Advertising Self-Regulatory Platform which is established by the Advertisers Association of Turkey (RVD) and Association of Advertising Agencies (RD) bearing the consciousness that advertisement should be legal, decent, honest and truthful.  RÖK intends to implement the Advertising and Marketing Communication Practice of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Code), having been accepted worldwide.

RÖK is a member of the European Advertising Standards Alliance where the self-regulatory organizations in Europe are being represented.

RÖK constitutes opinion about the conformity of all advertisements to be published, according to the International Code of Advertising Practice which also includes national practices.
 
One of the basic functions of the Board is to adopt the self-regulatory consciousness for 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 shall conduct training and awareness facilities for the adoption of the self-regulatory notion by all groups concerned.
 
It is encouraged by the Board to resolve the disputes among the agencies, advertisers and media through mutual responsibility and dialog within shorter and less expensive way.     

2.1)  RÖK comprises of 30 persons; 9 representative from advertisers, 9 representative from advertising agencies, 5representative from media (TV, press, outdoor, internet), 1 representative from consumer organizations, 2 representative from universities, 2 represantative from Bar Association, 1 representative from Turkish Researchers’ Association and 1 representative from Communication Consultancies Association. (In accordance with Platform decision dated 03.11.2023)
 
The duty term of the members is 2 year. The members whose duty term has ended shall be reelected.
 
2.2) The representation of RÖK in all platforms, the communication with all institutions and corporations, the actions needed to be taken for the operation of self-regulatory mechanism and to give the necessary support for the professional team is managed by the Board and the Board Coordinator.
 
2.3) 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.
 
2.4) The media representatives are requested by the Advertising Self-Regulatory Platform from each representative media institutions (Association of TV Broadcasters-TVYD, IAB Turkey, Outdoor Advertising Foundation-ARVAK, Mobile Marketing Association Turkey-MMA Turkey, Radio Listening Measurement Agency-RİAK , etc.) considering the total advertising revenue, rating and circulation of each related media. 
 
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.
 
2.5)  The personal participation of the members to the meetings is mandatory. Any member that does not attend at least half of the meetings in a six month period will be warned. If the absenteeism of the member continues in the same manner during the following six months, the person concerned will lose the membership and can 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.
 
2.6) In the event of the absenteeism of the vice chairman in the meeting, one of the independent representative or one of the Board Member chosen by members acts as the Chairman.

3.1) The Advertising Self-Regulatory Board  constitutes it’s advisory decisions 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 by the members of the Board or by the monitoring done by the secretariat (with the approval of the Coordinator) for protecting the respectability of advertising and sustainability of trust.
 
3.2) It provides copy advice service when requested from the advertising agencies or the advertisers. The Board may also constitute advisory decision if the media request a copy advice in the event where there had been a hesitancy in broadcasting/publishing.
 
The members of the Advertisers Association financially contributing the self-regulatory mechanism make use of the copy advice system free of charge. The copy advice requests from the advertisers that are not the member of the Advertisers Association, from the advertising agencies and the media are handled in return for a certain fee.
 
3.3) The Advertising Self-Regulatory Board also constitutes definite and binding advisory decisions with respect to;
 
 •  appeals made by the parties concerning the advisory decision taken by 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 a principle decision (caselaw) is necessary,
 
Within the framework of the common commitment made to the public, the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board requests the implementation of its advisory decisions from the parties and media concerned.
 
3.4) 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  objective criteria with respect to the definition of dishonest advertisements and informs the parties concerned.
 
3.5) The decisions in the articles of 3.1 and 3.2 can be also taken by the Executive Committee. 
 
3.6) Advertising Self-Regulatory Board meets every first and third week of the month with the participation of at least 10 members (at least one member from each representative group).

Executive Committee is an internal unit of Advertising Self-Regulatory Board, which acts on behalf of Advertising Self-Regulatory Board with using its authorization.
 
The Executive Committee comprises 8 members of two advertisers, two advertising agencies, three media and one idependent representative.
 
Executive Committee comprises of two nominees from each group (advertisers, advertising agencies and media) with the approval of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board.
 
The duty term of the Executive Committee members is two years. The members whose duty term has ended shall be reelected.

5.1) The Executive Committee constitutes advisory decision that were brought to agenda upon article 3.1 and implements this advisory decision. It constitutes advisory decision about the copy advice requests upon article 3.2.
 
It implements the strategies of promotions and communication for  the public which are approved by the Advertising Self-Regulatory Platform.
 
5.2) The Executive Committee meets every second and fourth week of the month with the participation of minimum 4 of its members (at least one member from each group).
 
In the event that an associate member of the Executive Committee informs that he/she is unable to attend the meeting, the alternate member having been appointed from that group shall participate the meeting.
 
In case of urgency when it is not possible to conduct a meeting, communication shall be established between the members by fax or e-mail and the advisory decision may be constituted.

6.1) In the event that an advertisement is regarded to be violating the Principles, a written opinion is requested from the advertiser and the advertising agency -if there is any- latest within two working days.
 
In the event that the written opinion and/or the support documents are sent after the due time, those documents are not taken into consideration in the process of evaluation. The Board/Committee constitutes its advisory decision without taking the opinion of the opposing party.
 
In the event that advertisements are clearly in violation of the Principles and need to be  withdrawn immediately, a decision may be constituted without getting the opinion of the advertiser.
 
When a demand is received with respect to providing oral explanation 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 the meeting for hearing their opinion. When such a demand is accepted, the opposing party will also be notified in order to attend the meeting and explain their opinion as well. The parties may also submit their oral explanation to the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board if the Executive Committee deems it appropriate.
 
The Board/Committee shall be informed at latest on Friday’s till 16:00 hours, for the demands about providing oral explanation in addition to written opinion.
 
6.2) The decisions are constituted by majority of votes. Advisory decisions to be constituted without seeking the opinion of the opposing party, require unanimous votes of the participants of the meeting.
 
6.3) Appeals against the decisions can be made to Advertising Self-Regulatory Board. The  appeals shall be sent at latest Friday before the meeting day till 18:00. The decisions of Advertising Self-Regulatory Board is definite. The appeals against this decision will not be evaluated unless the applicant sent new documents.
 
6.4)  When the committees deem it appropriate, they may constitute specialized working groups to be referred to as “experts groups” comprising of persons who are experts in their fields.
 
6.5) The Executive Committee decides with which expert to work with for the cases. It is respected to not to choose the experts whom is recommended by parties of the case while choosing from the list compiled by the members of Advertising Self-Regulatory Board.
 
6.6) If the parties of the case, recommends another expert or institution for consultancy instead of the expert appointed by Executive Committee, the Board evaluates this request. If the request is found acceptable, the cost of the expert or the institution will be met by the party who makes the demand.
 
6.7) When the Coordinator find it appropriate to discuss the matters related with the case among the parties, the Coordinator may encourage the parties to reach an agreement between themselves in accordance with the Principles. The application shall be removed from the agenda of the Board/Committee upon resolution of the dispute and the withdrawal of the approval in writing.
 

7.1) 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.
 
7.2) The Board shall not deal with any appeals or disputes that has previously been referred to judicial authorities. 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. If an advisory decision has already been constituted by the Board, the parties of the case has been informed that the Board has ceased the discussions and will act according to court decision. The court decision referred with this article covers the temporary legal protection.
 
The party applies for court, notifies Advertising Self-Regulatory Board  simultaneously.   

8.1)  The following parties may file  a complaint to the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board,
- Consumers,
- Consumer organizations, environmental institutions and the related occupational chambers,
- Competitors or advertising agencies.
 
The complaints shall be sent to the chairmanship of the Board.
 
8.2) The complaints shall be made in writing. The complaints shall be sent at latest till Wednesdays at 16:00 hours in order to be evaluated in the first following meeting. The articles of the principles that have been violated shall be clearly indicated and a  copy of the advertisement (photograph, CD etc) will be attached to the application.
 
8.3) The complaints of the consumer organizations, environmental institutions, the related occupational chambers and advertisers who financially contributes the self-regulatory mechanism handled free of charge. The other advertisers which are not a member of Advertisers Association, shall be charged 4.800 TL + VAT. The companies which are not advertisers (advertising agencies, media etc) shall be charged 3.000 TL+ VAT per complaint. (According to the Board decision of Platform dated January 2022)

The complaints to be sent to the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board will primarily be evaluated by the Coordinator of the Board and he/she shall determine the method to be implemented for the resolution of the dispute. The secretariat reporting to the Coordinator will perform the following duties by the approval of the Coordinator;
 
- Shall record the complaints and order them.
- Shall seek the opinion of the advertiser and the advertising agency about which there is a complaint and have complete the missing documents. The name of the complainant shall be kept confidential while asking for the opinion. But if it is necessary -like in the cases of imitation, exploitation of goodwill- the name of the complainant may be shared.
- Shall share the executive summaries of the cases with the board members before the meeting day.
 
In the event that either party wishes to review the reports and documents sent by the opposing party as an attachment of their petition, the documents shall be shared with the party unless the documents are stated as commercial secrets.
 
If the parties have not indicated that some part or the whole of the documents shared with the Board contains commercial secrets, it is assumed that there is not drawback in sending the documents to the opposing party.
 
When the party having prepared the report alleges that some parts of the document and reports bear commercial secrets and has not concealed them, the report shall be sent to the other party after such information has been concealed.
 
In addition to the general announcements, the rules above shall be indicated clearly in all letters requesting the opinions of parties with respect to the complaints.
 
The rapporteurs shall present the case to the Executive Committee with  the  copy, script and the support document  for the advertisement, answers the questions of the Board Members. The rapporteurs can’t comment on the cases. The rapporteurs shall provide that the constituted decisions are written, signed and shared with the parties. The rapporteurs inform the Committee/Board by following-up the implementation of the decision.
 
The decisions shall be notified to both parties in writing. In the event that the Committee/Board decides that the advertisements are not violating the Principles without a need to seek opinion, the decision will only be notified to the party having made the complaint.

10.1) The decisions shall be constituted with the simple majority of the participants of the meeting. If the number of votes is equal for both opinions, the opinion of the party having the vote of the Chairman will be adopted.
 
10.2) In the event that the parties of the dispute are members of the Executive Committee or the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board, they shall not be allowed to participate at the discussions and at the decision taking process in the committees.
 
10.3) After the Executive Committee or the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board evaluates the case and constitutes the decision, it shall notify both parties. If the advertisement has been found to be misleading, the advertiser or the advertising agency shall be requested to amend or withdraw the advertisement. It is expected from the advertiser to  amend or withdraw the advertisement in 2 working days. If the advertisement is not amended or withdrawn, the media concerned will be informed in writing and asked not to broadcast/publish the advertisements.
 
10.4) Appeals to be made to the decision shall not stop the implementation of the decision. The parties have to conform to the requisites of the decision until a decision is constituted about the appeal.

11.1) The decisions of the Committee/Board shall be shared only with the parties. The decisions can not be shared with any other person, institute or organization. It is not the legal responsibility of Advertising Self-Regulatory Board if the decisions are unintentionally reached by 3rd parties and this article shall be assumed to be accepted by all parties as they are involved with Advertising Self-Regulatory Boardby any form.
 
11.2) Within the framework of the common commitment made to the public, the advisory decisions are not legally binding but they are binding in practice. The validity of this binding feature is ensured by the occupational and commercial ethical values of the parties.
 
11.3) The Committee/Board conducts the necessary researches for reliable and consistent decisions. It can take academic/scientific views.
 
11.4) The Advertising Self-Regulatory Board makes periodic announcements and promotional activities to increase the level of consciousness for the parties about self-regulation, to educate them about honest and truthful advertising and to promote the activities of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board.

12.1) The discussions made in the meetings, the opinions suggested and the votes cast may not be disclosed in any manner either by giving or hiding names. The members are aware that the principle of confidentiality is connected with the reputation, respectability and existence of the Committee/Board itself. Any member violating this provision shall be warned by a decision of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board and membership shall be terminated by a decision to be adopted by the Board if such behavior is repeated. Conformity of the secretariat to this principle shall be followed-up and provided by the Coordinator.
 
It is not the legal responsibility of Advertising Self-Regulatory Board if the decisions unintentionally reached by 3rd parties and this article shall be assumed to be accepted  by all parties as they are involved with RÖK by any form.
 
12.2) The decisions of the Committee/Board shall not be discussed outside the meetings. Nobody, including the parties concerned, may ask questions to the members about the decisions, request information or indicate their opinion.
 
Additional requests of information not querying the essence of the decision shall be made in writing and answered by the Coordinator of the Board.   

13.1) It is to be considered with the proposal of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board while preparing the budget, either there will be any refund to the members for their attendance or not and also for the experts for each case or not.
 
13.2) Any claims of losses and compensation with respect to the implementations of the advisory decisions constituted by the Board shall tried to be resolved by the members of the Platform through collaboration and cooperation based on goodwill and by peace. Advertising Self-Regulatory Board does not have legal responsibility on these advisory decisions and this article shall be assumed to be accepted by all parties as they are involved with Advertising Self-Regulatory Board by any form.
 
13.3) For matters not included in this text; the previous decisions or the decisions to be constituted by the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board shall be valid.
 
13.4) These principles accepted by Advertising Self-Regulatory Board and put into force on December 15, 2015.