Call for evidence on potential short term tariff suspensions: The Department for Business and Trade is seeking evidence around the potential impact of short-term tariff reductions on a range of agricultural food products, fertilisers and kerosene with a view to trying to ease cost of living pressures arising from increased fuel prices. The government is welcoming suggestions for alternative or additional products to be included in the list. This includes specific consumer goods (for example, fuels) and goods used by UK food and drink manufacturers where targeted tariff suspensions could support the government’s efforts to tackle the cost of living. Responses are required by 24 June. View >
Advertising watchdog updates complaint processes: The Advertising Standards Authority has reviewed and published updated processes for dealing with complaints about both broadcast and non-broadcast advertising. Changes include the circumstances in which ASA will require a complainant party who has a clear interest in the outcome of a case, or a relevant public profile, to have their identity or expertise disclosed to the other parties to the case and named in any ruling, Clarification that the ASA reserves the right to not accept new evidence submitted late in the process of formal investigation unless the party submitting it can demonstrate that it was not reasonably foreseeable that this evidence needed to be shared. A new provision has been inserted to enable the Independent Reviewer to decline an Independent Review which has met the threshold for review if, in their assessment, the outcome would not be substantially different for the applicant. View >
Resources published to help put nature on Boardroom agendas: Defra has worked with the ‘Green Finance Initiative and a number of other bodies to develop a video, boardroom briefing and case studies aimed at making it easier for Companies to explore ‘nature’ as part of their management activities. The resources include a short film featuring His Majesty and Sir David Attenborough, alongside a Boardroom Briefing on Nature tailored for Chairs and Non-Executive Directors outlining the scale of the opportunity, and a suite of cross-economy business case studies demonstrating where nature action has delivered material and financial benefits for business performance. View >
Developments around online protection for young people: A porn site operator has been fined £600k by OFCOM for failure to have age of access controls in place and failure to respond to a formal information request. The G7 countries have agreed a coordinated approach to tackling online protection for young people. View >
