The change in membership policy has been made to help facilitate the requirements of its membership, specifically the FT and News International, who have metered paid models on their websites.
Following a meeting in February held by JICWEBS, the UK committee that defines the auditor's standards, it was confirmed that while it would remain an industry recommendation to have an audit once every 12 months, it is no longer mandatory.
The industry meeting was held in
A spokesman for ABC, which , attempted to downplay its significance by saying the mandatory policy was first reconsidered in June 2010 and the move was merely confirmed at the meeting in February.
Martyn Gates, group executive director at ABC, said: "JICWEBS wants to encourage as many media owners as possible to work with us."
The review of the auditing process in the UK followed in May 2010, as revealed by Media Week. Pearson's business paper was later persuaded to climb down from its position by the audit body.
It came amid increasing scepticism and discord over the metrics currently available to advertisers and their agencies for online magazine and newspaper brands.
In March 2010, News International took the controversial step of withholding its monthly ABCe figures for its entire portfolio ahead of erecting paywalls.
The relaxing of ABC policy has provided a short-term fix to the shifting requirements of its membership but some advertisers and agencies have already started to question the usefulness of having an audit body, built on transparency and accountability, unable to make its audit findings public.
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