UK ASA Issues Enforcement Notice on Physical Gold and Precious Metals Advertising

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has published an Enforcement Notice covering the advertising of physical gold and other precious metals investments, setting out the rules advertisers must follow and a deadline for amending non-compliant ads.

According to the ASA, its rules state that advertisers should not market physical gold or other physical precious metals as investment products unless key information and risk warnings are displayed clearly and prominently, so the public can make informed decisions about what they are investing in.

The notice follows ASA action in June 2026, when it banned five ads for physical gold and other physical precious metals as investments. Those ads broke the rules by failing to make clear that gold and other precious metal investment was unregulated, that the value of investments was variable, and that examples of past performance were not necessarily a guide to the future.

The Enforcement Notice gives the industry one month to review and amend their ads before the ASA takes action where the rules are not being followed. The regulator said it will begin actively monitoring after 26 November 2026, followed by targeted enforcement action where needed.