There are strong indications that the National Assembly may soon enact into law the amended enabling Act of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).
The document which had been long standing on the floor of the National Assembly is presently in its advanced stage, and, hopes are high that a favorable passage of the law would soon be realized before the end of June this year.
Dropping hints to this effect was the Registrar of APCON, Dr Olalekan Fadolapo while speaking at the occasion of formal induction of 63 new Fellows of the advertising profession which held in Lagos recently.
Fadolapo, addressing a gathering of advertising industry players, including former Council Chairmen and Registrars of APCON, noted that most of the challenges being encountered by the regulatory agency overtime, were due to inadequate legislative back up to its operations.
He, however,expressed optimism that the challenges were soon to abate, as the APCON enabling Act’s amendment was currently at its advanced stage at the National Assembly, and that a favorable passage of the law would soon be concluded.
“Most of the challenges we encounter as a regulatory agency are due to inadequate legislative back up. This will hopefully abate soon”
“The APCON enabling Act’s amendment is at an advanced stage at the Nation Assembly and we are optimistic that a favorable passage of the law would be concluded before the end of June this year”
The Council boss further disclosed that in line with its plans to reduce unlawful and unethical practices and encourage the business of APCON – licensed organizations, the Council is soon to introduce a new vetting regime starting from 1st April, 2022, adding that only licensed advertising organizations would be permitted to apply to the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) for vetting.
He explained that “the Corporate License Regime of APCON has been strengthen to make sure that we reduce the encroachment of non-registered professionals in the business space of advertising and marketing communications in Nigeria, adding that in the same light, the Council was Intensifying efforts to monitor and enforce compliance by licensed advertising organizations, as it is expected that the scope of licenses must be adhered to while the conditions upon which a license is issued must be strictly adhered to.
According to him, recently, the Advertising Industry Standard of Practice (AISOP) was established to provide a minimum standard for business engagement in the industry with an aim to improve mutual respect, eradicate unfair advantage, unethical competition and inadequate engagement terms between stakeholders in the advertising and marketing communication sector of the economy.
The APCON boss highlighted the areas of coverage of the new AISOP regime to include, among other things, media rates deregulation, credit policy, agency engagement process, agency disengagement policy, contract as well as implementation date.
He added “APCON is committed to providing you and every advertising practitioner with a conducive business and professional grounds to make sure that the practice and business of advertising in Nigeria is conducted in an ethical manner without compromising best practices”
“To further this idea, we have introduced some reforms to compliment the prevailing regulations, proclamations and other subsidiary instruments established and adopted as legal framework for the industry”.
