Surrogate advertisement rules stuck in a legal grey zone

New Delhi: India's rollout of surrogate advertising guidelines is likely to be delayed further, as the government struggles to find clear legal authority under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, two people familiar with the matter said. This complicates efforts to rein in indirect promotion of alcohol and indirect promotion ofbrands while prolonging regulatory uncertainty for companies operating under existing advertising restrictions.There is little clarity yet on a timeline for the guidelines even after one-and-a-half years of a government panel first meeting to fix these gaps from which surrogate promotions scrape throughThe consumer law does not define surrogate advertising or treat indirect promotion of prohibited products such as alcohol and tobacco as a standalone offence, limiting the government's ability to issue binding rules.“The consumer affairs ministry is examining whether the guidelines can be rolled out through executive action, while the department of consumer affairs is of the view that the current law allows intervention only when an advertisement is misleading with respect to the product being promoted, limiting the scope for such guidelines,” said the first of the two people cited above.In most such cases, the advertised product, such as packaged water, soda, music CDs or merchandise, is legally sold and not misleading in isolation, even if it uses the same brand name, logo or colours as a prohibited product.

This makes enforcement difficult and legally fragile.“There have been gaps in the framework to control brand extension by liquor manufacturers. This is because drawing the line between what is surrogate and what is a genuine new venture is very difficult,” said Vinod Giri, director general of