Bureau of Meteorology Online Advertising Policy

Issued in accordance with s 7A(2) of the Meteorology Act 1955

Introduction

In accordance with the Meteorology Act 1955 the Bureau of Meteorology may include advertising on, in or in connection with any of its services. Since April 2013, the Bureau has included commercial advertising on its website.

Under Section 7A(2) of the Meteorology Act 1955 the Director of Meteorology must develop and publish guidelines relating to advertising.

All decisions regarding acceptance or refusal of commercial advertising will be made in accordance with these guidelines. The guidelines are not a legislative instrument.

All advertising services that place advertising on, in or in connection with any of the Bureau's services are accountable for adhering to these guidelines at all times.

Advertising acceptance

  1. Advertising placement services must comply with all applicable Commonwealth, State and Territory laws and regulations, and industry guidelines including the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA)1.

  2. Advertising is not permitted that promotes in connection with any of the Bureau's services:

    1. tobacco, gambling, lotteries or advertising promoting the consumption or sale of alcohol;

    2. advertising that causes offence or incites hatred of any individual, group or class;

    3. advertisements glorifying, or delivering for the purposes of entertainment, scenes or descriptions of non-consensual pain, suffering, death, torture or ill-treatment of humans or animals;

    4. advertising relating to bombs, guns, ammunition and other offensive weapons;

    5. advertising containing sexually explicit content and/or sexual innuendo and/or advertising containing offensive language;

    6. advertising that is misleading or deceptive or be likely to mislead or deceive;

    7. advertising that contains a misrepresentation which is likely to cause damage to the business or goodwill of a competitor;

    8. advertising that is defamatory; or

    9. advertising of a political nature.

  3. The appearance of advertising on, in or in connection with any of the Bureau's services does not imply endorsement of the advertised company or product.

  4. The Bureau of Meteorology will not present advertising on or in connection with any of the Bureau's services that are provided solely for the purposes of providing warnings

  5. The Bureau will permit behavioural advertising from advertising placement services who are signatories to the Australian Digital Advertising Alliance (ADAA)2. The Bureau reserves the right to request the source of any third-party data used for the purpose of behavioural advertising3.

  6. The Bureau or its representatives reserves the exclusive right to review, at its sole discretion, the content of any advertisement and to reject, in part or in full, any advertisement which, in the Bureau's opinion does not comply with these guidelines.

  7. Initial acceptance of any advertisement does not imply that subsequent advertisements from the advertiser, even with the same or similar content, cannot be rejected.

Authority and accountability

These guidelines are subject to review by the Director of Meteorology.

Advertising formats

The following advertisement formats are prohibited:

  • advertisements that prevent user control, or otherwise affect functionality, on touch or roll-over; and

  • advertisements that send visitors to another site without the visitor having clicked the advertisement.

In accepting advertising, consideration will be given to optimising the speed of Bureau content and industry standards. File sizes will comply with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Rich Banner guidelines .

Subject to these guidelines, the Bureau will use its reasonable endeavours to publish advertisements in the format and in the position agreed with advertising placement services. However, the Bureau reserves the right to vary the placement of advertisements at its discretion.

Response to advertisements that receive negative feedback

In the event that the Bureau receives negative feedback in relation to a particular advertisement, it will:

  1. evaluate the validity of issues raised;

  2. remove the advertisement from the Bureau's website if it is determined necessary; and

  3. contact the advertising placement services to inform them that an advertisement has been removed.