The voluntary levy system
FUNDING of the Advertising Standards Bureau and its secretariat support of the Advertising Standards Board and Advertising Claims Board is provided through a voluntary levy - the ASB receives no government funding.
The levy is paid by responsible advertisers and collected through media buyers, or from advertisers who buy their own media space directly.
The levy system, which underpins self-regulation of the advertising industry in Australia, is administered by the Australian Advertising Standards Council (AASC). All levy is paid directly to the AASC.
Since the establishment of the advertising self-regulation system in Australia in 1997, the voluntary levy has been set at 0.035%, just $3.50 per $10,000 of gross media expenditure on advertising, with all levy monies applied exclusively to the maintenance of the self-regulation system.
Advertisers support the system by paying the levy on media invoices and having the amounts remitted to the AASC on their behalf.
ADVERTISERS: please check your media invoices. If you do not see the AASC levy applied please complete the Levy Authorisation form and send it to ASB as a priority – details are on the form. If you buy your media directly, please contact ASB and arrangements can be made to send you a quarterly invoice.
MEDIA AGENCIES: please check you are applying the levy to client media invoices and remit the amounts to AASC using the Remittance Advice form.
Supporters of the self-regulation system are kept informed about public complaints, competitive claims and associated matters through a range of Advertising Standards Bureau publications.