Advertising Dispute Procedure - Exclusions

ASC shall decline to accept, or to proceed further with, a Complaint, or any part thereof, where ASC is of the opinion that the Complaint, or such part of the Advertising to which the Complaint refers:

(a) is, substantially, at any time before the Advertising Dispute Panel (or Review Panel or Appeal Panel) as the case may be, actually considers the Complaint, also:

1. the subject of litigation in which the defendant Advertiser in the Advertising Dispute is named and identified as a party defendant in the litigation, that was, or is then, actively undertaken and pursued by the complainant Advertiser in Canada; or
2. the subject of a complaint formally submitted by the complainant Advertiser to another competent Canadian authority or tribunal such as, but without limitation, the Competition Bureau; or
3. Advertising (or other advertising that is substantially similar to the Advertising), which was in the past or concurrently is the subject of a review or proceeding by a Canadian court or Canadian authority or tribunal;
4. has been, specifically, approved by an agency (or some other comparable entity) of the Canadian Government; or
5. has been otherwise submitted as a complaint by the complainant Advertiser to ASC under another process administered by ASC such as the Consumer Drug Complaint Procedure.

ASC shall also decline to accept, or to proceed further with, a Complaint, or any part thereof, where the Complaint:

(b) relates to one or more advertisements (for food, drug, natural health products, cosmetic, alcoholic beverage or children's products or services) that were reviewed and approved by ASC Clearance Services except to the extent the Complaint relates to alleged offences under the Code; or where the Complaint

(c) includes as a material aspect of the Advertiser Complaint any matter which, in ASC's opinion, ASC is unable to resolve effectively or reasonably because such matter is outside the purview or intended scope of the Code, or may result in the improper application of the Code or Procedure.