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Enforcement on Advertising

VCA has been tasked by the central Department for Transport (DfT), with monitoring car advertisements as they appear in all media publications to ensure that the requirements for the display of Fuel Consumption and CO₂ data are fully met. The type of publications we monitor include both national and local newspapers, all magazines - not just those with a transport orientation, along with flyers and any other printed campaign material produced by car manufacturers. The legislation that details sets out the requirements for the display of this information is The Passenger Car (Fuel Consumption and CO2 Emissions Information) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (PDF 137.9KB) amending Passenger Car (Fuel Consumption and Co2 Emissions Information) Regulations 2001 (PDF 175.4KB)

Free copies of each Statutory Instrument are available for download by following the links in the previous paragraph. Alternatively, you can access the original documents from the website of the Office of Public Sector Information (page opens in a new browser window).

Manufacturers and their marketing agencies may also be interested in our Guidance Notes (PDF 1.3MB) that we have made available to further clarify the requirements for advertising. These notes were last published on 16 January 2009 (titles corrected on 20 January 2009).

Where there is uncertainty as to whether or not a planned advertisement meets the requirements of the legislation, we will be happy to give an opinion before it goes to print. For further information, please contact us on 0117 9524169, or by Email:

Please note that this is an entirely voluntary service, and VCA can only ever offer an opinion on the conformity or otherwise of a particular advertisement. Interpretation of the law remains the sole prerogative of the courts.

Make further enquiries about this area of work

• Link to VCA Enforcement policy documents