The Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) has announced that new rules providing transparency and choice for consumers around Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA) will be included in the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising from 4 February 2013.
OBA is a practice of targeted advertising where adverts are customised to users' likely interests based on their website browsing history. The new rules mean that consumers are notified and given the chance to opt out of the collection of their data and the targeting of adverts based on it.
Third party providers of OBA services must comply with the new rules, rather than the owners of websites from where the data is collected. The Advertising Standards Authority will have power to take action where there are any alleged breaches. The rules form part of a European Best Practice Recommendation and similar rules will be incorporated across Europe. CAP will review the rules after 12 months.
Expect to see notices and opt out mechanisms similar to those in respect of cookies from OBA providers from 4 February 2013.
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