ICC Advertising and Marketing Communications Code

No. 892E

ISBN : 978-92-842-0528-8

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is uniquely positioned to provide insightful guidance on marketing and advertising around the globe. As the world business organization, whose membership is composed of thousands of enterprises from all sectors and regions, ICC has been a major rule-setter in marketing and advertising since 1937 when it issued the first ICC Code on Advertising Practice.

ICC’s Advertising and Marketing Communications Code – or the ICC Marketing Code – is a globally-applicable self-regulatory framework, developed by experts from all industry sectors worldwide. Since 1937, it has served as the cornerstone for most self-regulatory systems around the world, from the French ARPP Code to China’s Responsible Marketing Code. The Code is the backbone of the global advertising and marketing industry.

The ICC Marketing Code seeks to protect consumers by clearly setting out the ‘dos and don’ts’ for responsible marketing to ensure legal, honest, decent and truthful communications and practices. The Marketing Code sets high standards for a full range of marketing activities, including digital marketing communications with measures to protect children and consumer privacy.

ICC’s Commission on Marketing and Advertising brings together the world’s top experts on regulation, self-regulation and ethical best practices in marketing communications. This group, spanning companies of all sizes and sectors from every region of the world—in consultation with ICC’s national committees and industry associations—identifies marketing issues and concerns in consumer protection and develops the content of the ICC Marketing Code to address them.

The ICC Marketing Code functions within the framework of local, national or regional legislation, supplementing regulation in a complementary manner. The below map shows where self-regulation frameworks are either based on the ICC Marketing Code, national codes or remain non-existent.

  • 42 countries have or are developing national codes based on the ICC Marketing Code
  • 52 countries have advertising self-regulations
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