Our Largest Annual Compliance Review to Date

Today, the NAI released its fifth Annual Compliance Report, based on our largest Annual Review to date.  The 2013 Annual Compliance Report provides a detailed overview of the NAI’s multi-pronged approach to compliance.  The Report concentrated on the Annual Review of 88 member companies.  

I’m proud to report that, after our extensive, rigorous review of thousands of pages of questionnaire responses, privacy policies, website content, and other documents, NAI staff found that its evaluated members demonstrated high levels of compliance with the 2008 Code of Conduct.  The NAI compliance process relies on a variety of reviews and assessments by NAI staff, including the use of an automated technical tool that monitors the functioning of member opt-out mechanisms, as well as an evaluation of members’ public-facing materials, like privacy policies.

The Compliance Report focuses on the results of the 2013 Annual Compliance Review, which was the largest annual review that the NAI has performed to date.  It shows the growth of our membership and the growing reach and impact of the high standards that our members uphold.

NAI staff spent hundreds of hours reviewing member responses to detailed annual review questionnaires about compliance with 2008 Code of Conduct. These reviews were coupled with interviews with each evaluated member, conducted by at least two staff members.

Some highlights from the 2013 Annual Compliance Report revealing strong member commitment to the NAI Code of Conduct include:

• Education:
  • Members donated 2 billion impressions to the NAI educational campaign.  
  • The campaign helped drive 3,140,000 consumers to the NAI’s revamped educational pages in 2013.
• Notice:
  • Over 280,000 websites included a link to the NAI website. 
  • NAI members delivered the “Advertising Option” Icon, or a similar icon or link, to consumers, trillions of times a month.
• Choice:
  • 3,920,000 consumers visited the NAI opt-out page.
  • NAI’s automated compliance monitoring tool helped spot opt out downtimes, which were fixed within an average of 24 hours from the time the member received notice from the NAI.
  • NAI staff manually examined the lifespan, behavior, and content of over 500 IBA cookies of its evaluated member companies.
• Consumer Communications:
  • NAI reviewed 7,791 consumer queries it received through its website or via email, working with its members to promptly address any valid queries.
  • NAI staff also received approximately 1,000 telephone calls from consumers in 2013.

The Compliance Report also provides insight into new developments within the organization, including the release of an updated 2013 Code of Conduct and Mobile Application Code.  The 2013 Code of Conduct was released in mid-2013 and went into effect in 2014.  

I am extremely pleased with the incredible efforts of our members and staff in completing the 2013 compliance process. This coming year, we look forward to working closely with each of our members to help them comply with our new 2013 Code of Conduct.  Staff will also help prepare members for compliance with the Mobile Application Code, which is currently scheduled to go into effect in 2015.

We encourage members to download and read the 2013 Compliance Report, which can be found at the link below.  

Download the report here.

View the Press Release here.

Thank you for your continued hard work and commitment.

Noga Rosenthal, General Counsel, VP for Compliance and Policy