Under the Ofcom plans, the Advertising Standards Authority would be given the remit, which had previously been handled by the Independent Television Commission and the Radio Authority.
In a heated exchange before an invitation-only audience at Ofcom's offices in London yesterday, Sue Dibb, the Consumer Council's senior policy officer, attacked Ofcom and the ASA for ignoring the voice of consumers in the draft proposals and for not providing sufficient time for a full debate and consultation before the proposed co-regulatory powers are transferred to the ASA in July 2004.
"These proposals fall well short of our expectations. This new watchdog [Ofcom] is handing over its teeth. Commercial interests will now be in control of the new codes of advertising practice, which is totally unacceptable," Dibb argued.
Dibb challenged the ASA's record for dealing with breaches of its non-broadcast code, the CAP Code, particularly in relation to budget airlines offering "free" flights or flights for "one pound" when these advertisers had not been clear about hidden charges and taxes.
Christopher Graham, director general of ASA, was incensed by the attack and defined the ad watchdog's record.
He said that in such cases newspapers had taken action following ASA adjudications by refusing to accept these types of ads from airlines such as Ryanair and this had had the effect of ensuring compliance.
He then invited the Consumer Council and other consumer groups to visit the ASA's offices to see for themselves what it actually did.
Ardi Kolah appears on the Chartered Institute of Marketing's global . He is author of 'Essential Law for Marketers' (Butterworth Heinemann, £25.00). Read the review of the book on Brand Republic and order your copy online
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