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The Opium advert featuring model Sophie Dahl caused huge controversy

Media organisations have welcomed the first clear sign Ofcom will allow the industry to regulate itself.

The Advertising Association, Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and the Commercial Radio Companies Association all praised moves by Ofcom this week to consult the industry over a new regulatory framework for broadcast advertising.

The new super-regulator, which finally gets full powers at the end of December, said the exercise would look at proposals to form a co-regulatory body under the banner of the Advertising Standards Authority.

Although the new body would have responsibility for establishing and reviewing regulatory codes, Ofcom would have "backstop" powers over the new system, providing another regulatory tier to the existing policing of ads.

Every year the ASA deals with thousands of complaints over non-broadcast ads, such as Sophie Dahl's controversial endorsement of Opium perfume.

This week's move has pleased the industry, which until now had only promises from Ofcom bosses that it would be a "handsoff " regulator.

Chief executive at the CRCA, Paul Brown, supported the endorsement of Ofcom for the industry's "sensible and unified" proposals.

He added: "We believe in self-regulation because it makes the broadcaster and the advertiser directly responsible rather than leaving the correction of mistakes to a third party."

IPA director general Hamish Pringle said the move would make "enormous sense" for the industry.

Meanwhile, chief executive of the Independent Television Commission, Patricia Hodgson, will join the Competition Commission as a non-executive director when her role at the ITC becomes redundant at the end of the year.