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World Federation of Advertisers

WFA

The World Federation of Advertisers is a global network representing brand owners and marketers.

Lobbying Activity

WFA urges EU to simplify digital advertising consent rules

13 Oct 2025
Topic — The Commission is consulting on simplifying digital regulations to reduce business burdens.
Message — The WFA requests targeted exemptions from user consent for low-risk marketing tasks like audience measurement and fraud prevention. They also seek a risk-based approach to AI transparency that avoids mandatory labeling for creative marketing content.12
Why — These changes would reduce cross-border compliance costs and provide greater legal certainty.34
Impact — Browser developers would be prevented from centralizing privacy and consent controls.5
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Meeting with Kosma Złotowski (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

23 Sept 2025 · Advertising to children

Advertisers urge EU to harmonize data rules and consent exemptions

17 Jul 2025
Topic — The consultation explores streamlining EU data rules to improve business competitiveness.
Message — The WFA urges harmonisation of ePrivacy rules and a specific consent exemption for audience measurement. They also request clear guidance on how digital laws like the DMA interact with privacy.12
Why — This would lower compliance costs and allow advertisers to independently verify campaign performance.34
Impact — Large tech gatekeepers would be forced to share advertising performance data with third parties.5
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Response to Guidance on the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2024/900 on the transparency and targeting of political advertising

16 Jun 2025

The World Federation of Advertisers welcomes the European Commission's intention to devise guidance to assist with the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2024/900 on the transparency and targeting of political advertising. We support the existing definition of political advertising, summarised as any advertisement liable and designed to influence a political outcome (Article 3(2)(b)) or made by a political actor. In line with this definition, we believe that the guidance should uphold a clear distinction between political advertisements and commercial, purpose-driven advertisements. Specifically, we urge the Commission to differentiate between issue ads driven by political motives and/or designed to influence a political outcome on the one hand, and those driven by purely commercial motives on the other (i.e. to promote the image of a brand in order to influence consumers transactional decisions in relation to products or services). Purpose-driven marketing that focuses on social issues (e.g. a brand running a campaign aimed at raising awareness about the importance of mental health) is not the same as a campaign urging people to vote no in the context of an upcoming political referendum. Accordingly, the guidance for implementing Article 8 should make clear that any form of commercial communication that promotes products, services, or brand image and is directly related to influencing consumers transactional decisionsincluding purpose-driven marketing focused on social issuesis excluded from the Regulations scope. Without clear differentiation, brands may face legal uncertainty and unintended restrictions on running purpose-driven marketing campaigns on social issues (e.g. mental health awareness, sustainability, among others) that have no political intent. We believe that maintaining this clear distinction between political and commercial advertising in the guidance would support the European Commissions objectives of tackling regulatory fragmentation in political advertising across the EU, ensuring legal certainty and clarity within the EU internal market, and supporting democratic processes. This would also avoid unintended consequences for commercial advertising and prevent undermining existing regulatory and self-regulatory efforts aimed at driving transparency in online advertising. We would welcome the opportunity to engage further with the Commission to help ensure that the guidance is both effective and proportionate.
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Meeting with Michalis Hadjipantela (Member of the European Parliament)

21 May 2025 · Introductory Meeting

Meeting with Marco Giorello (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology) and Apple Inc. and

13 Mar 2025 · Code of Conduct on Online Advertising – Workshop 3

Meeting with Marco Giorello (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology) and EuroCommerce and

4 Mar 2025 · Code of Conduct on Online Advertising – Workshop 1

Meeting with Sophia Kircher (Member of the European Parliament)

3 Mar 2025 · Green-Claims Directive

Meeting with Arba Kokalari (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

25 Feb 2025 · Green Claims Directive

Meeting with Rita Wezenbeek (Director Communications Networks, Content and Technology) and

11 Feb 2025 · Opening Session: DSA roundtable discussions on online advertising (Article 46 DSA)

WFA advocates for voluntary standards in alcohol advertising guidelines

30 Sept 2024
Topic — The Commission is establishing new guidelines for protecting minors on online platforms.
Message — The WFA recommends using industry-led voluntary initiatives to manage minors' exposure to alcohol advertisements. They propose measures such as age-gating, influencer restrictions, and audience targeting thresholds.12
Why — Self-regulation allows the alcohol industry to maintain control over its own standards.3
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WFA Urges EU Clarity on GDPR and Digital Laws

7 Feb 2024
Topic — This consultation evaluates the application of the GDPR six years after its entry into application.
Message — The WFA seeks harmonized guidelines to prevent regulatory fragmentation across Member States. They support the risk-based approach and urge clarity on the interplay with new digital laws.123
Why — Standardized EU rules would allow global brands to streamline operations and minimize legal risks.45
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Meeting with Andrus Ansip (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

28 Nov 2023 · Green Claims

WFA urges streamlined verification for EU green marketing claims

20 Jul 2023
Topic — This consultation regulates how companies must substantiate and communicate environmental performance claims.
Message — The WFA requests a streamlined approval system with a 30-day deadline for verifiers. They also recommend extending the transition period to 30 months to ensure compliance.123
Why — Faster verification processes would protect marketing timelines and reduce the cost of compliance.4
Impact — Consumers lose transparency if companies restrict public access to data to protect commercial secrets.5
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Meeting with Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

17 Nov 2022 · Political Advertising

Meeting with Pablo Arias Echeverría (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

8 Nov 2022 · Transparency and targeting of political advertising

Meeting with Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

31 Aug 2022 · Political Advertising

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

5 May 2022 · Political advertising

Meeting with Salvatore De Meo (Member of the European Parliament) and Alibaba and EUROPEAN HOTEL FORUM

23 Sept 2021 · Various

Response to Digital Services Act package: ex ante regulatory instrument of very large online platforms acting as gatekeepers

5 May 2021

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) is the voice of marketers worldwide, representing 90% of global marketing communications spend – over €800 billion per year – through a unique, global network of the world’s biggest markets and biggest marketers. WFA champions responsible and effective marketing communications worldwide. We represent 128 brand owners and 60 national advertiser associations across the world. This includes national advertiser associations in 19 EU Member States and about 50% of the companies we represent are European. Today, digital advertising constitutes the world’s largest advertising medium, representing just over 50% of global advertising spend in 2020. In Europe, this digital ad spend is worth over €50 billion per year, and it supports not only the EU economy, contributing to economic growth and acting as a major source of employment, but represents an essential driver of competition and innovation in the digital ecosystem. However, the digital advertising market today is notoriously complex and opaque, which means that advertisers and businesses can struggle to access necessary data about their advertising from the companies that process and deliver it. As noted in the Digital Markets Act proposal, “the conditions under which gatekeepers provide online advertising services are often non-transparent and opaque” . In fact, according to a recent WFA survey, 79% of large global advertisers (WFA corporate members) said they encounter a lack of data sharing when working with large online platforms . This can impact advertisers’ ability to measure the performance of online platforms’ advertising services against alternative providers, optimise advertising budgets and understand consumer behaviour to develop new products and services. In the long term, this could increase prices for consumers, undermine competition in the digital advertising market and compromise the wellbeing of the wider digital economy. WFA therefore believes the Digital Markets Act proposal is a significant step forward to addressing these concerns. In particular, we welcome the provisions relating to the transparency of online advertising services and access to data for business users of gatekeeper platforms. At the same time, we feel that a number of changes to the Digital Markets Act proposal are needed to ensure that it is effective in its goal of ensuring that all businesses can compete on a level playing field and foster transparency in digital markets. For more information, please find attached our position paper on the Digital Markets Act proposal.
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Meeting with Werner Stengg (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager)

13 Jul 2020 · Introduction of Association; Digital Services Act

Response to Report on the application of the General Data Protection Regulation

27 Apr 2020

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) represents over 100 global brands and 60 national advertiser associations worldwide. This includes national advertiser associations in 19 EU Member States, and around 50% of the companies we represent are European. WFA supports the GDPR’s approach of upholding principles designed to give consumers transparency, control and choice over how and when their data is shared. In particular, we support maintaining the GDPR’s risk-based approach which provides companies with sufficient flexibility to process data based on likely impact on data subjects’ fundamental rights and freedoms. The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has issued guidelines on several issues which have helped ensure consistency of approach across Member States. We believe that it is essential for the proper functioning of the single market that the EDPB ensures, as far as possible, a consistent approach to GDPR enforcement across different national data protection authorities (DPAs). We encourage the EDPB to promote and enable consistency across Member States in order to avoid fragmented approaches to divergent or even contradictory GDPR enforcement at national level. Since the GDPR entered into force, the public debate and understanding of harmful online content, including disinformation, and the extent of online manipulation and fraud has advanced considerably. It is important that actions to counter these negative influences are not unduly limited based on various interpretations of the GDPR. We therefore call for DPA guidance and enforcement to ensure sufficient flexibility to enable the collection of independently audited measurement data which is necessary to: 1. Measure the effectiveness of advertising. This includes aggregated data used to enable advertisers to know how their ads are performing across different platforms (e.g. how many times it was viewed, for how long etc.) and web analytics. 2. Prevent criminals and other bad actors from profiting from digital advertising. This includes identifying suspicious activity which could signal ad fraud and preventing ads from appearing next to harmful content. 3. Improve the online consumer experience of advertising. This includes data used to limit frequency, volume, annoyance and improve relevance. We are concerned that some of the guidance adopted by DPAs has been inconsistent across Member States, and that there is little specific guidance related to some of the use cases mentioned above, notably advertising fraud and effectiveness. There is currently differing guidance on whether consent is required for analytics cookies and limited and differing views on whether consent is required for cookies to prevent advertising fraud. We set out a more detailed analysis in our submission attached. We also believe it is essential that GDPR enforcement and the wider EU regulatory framework on data protection leaves space for consumers to make clear, informed choices about how their data is collected and used. This includes ensuring that consumers maintain the right to opt in to receive relevant and personalised brand experiences, including advertising. We support the view that children merit specific protection with regard to their personal data. Advertisers have a duty of care to advertise only in compliant media. However, certain concepts would benefit from further clarity, such as “service offered to children”, which potentially covers a broader set of services than those intended for, or targeting, children. Equally, when parental consent is required, we call for further guidance on how to strike the right balance between consent requirements and the principle of data minimisation. Further EU guidance is welcome in order to avoid certain Member States taking divergent interpretations, creating a difficult patchwork to navigate for businesses.
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Response to Targeted revision of EU consumer law directives

20 Jul 2017

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) is the voice of marketers worldwide, representing 90% of global marketing communications spend – roughly €900 billion per annum – through a unique, global network of the world’s biggest markets and biggest brand owners. WFA champions responsible marketing communications which listen to and reflect consumers’ and societal concerns. From brand marketers’ perspective, the provisions under UCPD are adequate in order to protect consumers from unfair commercial practices. As highlighted in the fitness check released in May and in the EC’s 2013 Communication on the application of the UCPD, the directive has significantly increased the level of consumer protection in most Member States. Over twelve years after its adoption, the directive and, in particular, the comprehensive black list of practices which are in all circumstances regarded as unfair and therefore banned (annex I), have been very useful in clarifying where the boundaries are. The directive, through its set of principle-based rules, has also proved to be relevant in relation to new marketing techniques and technological changes. In a fast-evolving market, it is essential that the directive remains future-proof. Legislative changes to UCPD, even targeted ones, might open the door to lengthy and complicated discussions that might increase legal uncertainty for both traders and consumers with no guarantee that the new text would significantly improve consumer protection. With this in mind, and in light of the findings of the fitness check, WFA believes the focus of the revision should be to improve the awareness of the rules and their enforcement. We therefore support the proposed ‘baseline scenario’ which aims to increase traders’ and consumers’ knowledge of their rights and duties while stepping up enforcement.
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Meeting with Kevin O'Connell (Cabinet of Commissioner Věra Jourová)

18 Sept 2015 · Data protection

Meeting with Laure Chapuis-Kombos (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

8 Jul 2015 · data protection regulation

Meeting with Paula Duarte Gaspar (Cabinet of Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis)

27 May 2015 · Selg regulation in marketing of food as a means to promote healthy eating and fight obesity

Meeting with Robert Madelin (Director-General Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

13 May 2015 · AVMSD

Meeting with Michelle Sutton (Cabinet of First Vice-President Frans Timmermans)

4 May 2015 · Better Regulation