Advertising and Trading Measures under Birmingham Commonwealth Games Act

To support the successful delivery of the Games, the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Act 2020 was passed. It provides a small number of essential, temporary measures, and is similar to legislation for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The Act includes a prohibition on unauthorised association with the Games. This means that only those individuals, businesses or organisations that have been authorised by the Organising Committee can associate themselves and their brand with the Games in the course of business. Please see the Organising Committee’s guidance for more information.

The Act also includes provisions to temporarily restrict unauthorised advertising and trading in and around specified Games locations at specified times.

These measures are necessary to help secure the funding to host the Games. They protect the commercial rights of sponsors, whose financial contributions help to offset the public costs of the Games. The measures also help to ensure spectators can move easily and safely in and around Games locations.

On 29 October 2021, the Government introduced secondary legislation providing further details about the advertising and trading measures. This sets out where and when the measures apply and when a person will be treated as advertising or trading in, or in the vicinity of, a Games location.

This legislation also introduces a number of exceptions to help minimise disruption to existing businesses. For example, the advertising and trading measures do not apply to:

• indoor trading
• trading on private land adjacent to cafes, bars and restaurants (subject to certain conditions e.g. that the trading does not cause undue interference or inconvenience to persons using a street)
• displaying items outside of a shop (where those items are part of the usual business of the shop)
• standard advertising on business premises (related to the goods sold or services provided) (where it is already permitted under existing regulations controlling the display of adverts)

The measures (including the exceptions) are subject to various conditions and limitations, details of which are set out in the Act and the subsequent regulations.

Where traders and advertisers are affected, they will be able to apply free of charge to the Organising Committee for authorisation while the measures are in place.  All applications for authorisation to advertise or trade will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Guidance on the measures and details on the authorisation process will be available in early December 2021 and advertisers/traders will have the opportunity to apply for authorisation from January 2022.

These measures are only in place for a small amount of time and the below table sets out when and where the measures will be in place.

The regulations and maps that set out the areas where these measures will apply can be found here.