Day 055 - 25 Nov 94 - Page 16

     
     1        very well have it; I would just like to know where.
     2
     3   MR. MORRIS:  Defendants' witness statements, volume 1B.
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
     6
     7   MR. MORRIS:  We all have it now.  How would you like to take us
     8        through this?
     9        A.  If I initially talk about the context in which this was
    10        produced, on page 4 he gives a little background.  The
    11        second paragraph shows the context that the Health of the
    12        Nation White Paper has given this subject, in which the
    13        advertising regulatory bodies "should be invited to examine
    14        their codes of practice in the light of the Health of the
    15        Nation dietary targets with a view to identifying any
    16        desirable changes, and that particular regard should be
    17        paid to children."
    18
    19        The proposals that the National Food Alliance have put
    20        together in this document aim to reflect the Health of the
         Nation strategy and aim to be realistic.  They also
    22        recognise that the focus on individual advertisements does
    23        not address the overall and cumulative effect of
    24        advertising, and urge the ITC to investigate measures which
    25        would reflect those concerns.
    26
    27        This report is solely dealing with proposals for amending
    28        the Code; it is not dealing with other issues, such as
    29        structure, accountability, openness, et cetera, which are
    30        referred to in the previous document.
    31
    32        Broadly, the way that this was done was to take the
    33        existing code and make recommendations for improving it.
    34        In fact, what the ITC itself has done in its proposals has
    35        gone further than that, and chosen to pull together its
    36        rules on food into one new section.  I think that is a good
    37        thing, but just to explain that ours was based on the
    38        existing code which does not do that.
    39
    40        Section 1 on page 5 deals with general principles and
         standards of the Code, and seeks to place greater emphasis,
    42        particularly, in relation to applying the Code in the
    43        spirit as well as the letter.
    44
    45   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause a moment.  Where are we going
    46        now?  I am not suggesting that this is not without general
    47        interest, and I am not suggesting that the National Food
    48        Alliance has other than worthy motives.  But how do we
    49        relate it to the actual issues in this case?  If you are
    50        saying that I should not be much influenced or influenced 
    51        at all by the fact that complaints have not been upheld 
    52        because the ITC's guidelines are not very strict or the ITC 
    53        is not very strict in applying them, I understand that; and
    54        I understand that it may be said that there are cogent
    55        arguments against advertising which encourages children to
    56        want to eat food which may fall short of (or does fall
    57        short, it is said) of certain guidelines.  I understand all
    58        that.  But where are we going to on what the NFA would
    59        argue about amendment to the Code?
    60