Rules & ResourcesBylaws & Rules
Chapter F: Article 6
F 6.1 Renewals
(a) If a magazine makes any renewal claim either by oral or written communication direct to advertisers or through advertising matter or has made public a comparative statement concerning its renewal percentage, the publication shall in the first Publisher's Statement to the Bureau subsequent to the advertised claim make a formal statement of its renewal claim in the paragraph devoted to explanations. Before releasing the Publisher's Statement, the Bureau shall inspect the publication's records and satisfy itself that the publication has the necessary records to substantiate the claim. If inspection reveals that records are not available to substantiate the claim according to the standard practice of the Bureau, the statement of renewal percentage shall be eliminated from the Publisher's Statement before release and the following declaration shall be substituted:
- "Records required by the ABC are not available to substantiate any claim of percentage of renewals and any such claim which may have been made by or in behalf of this publication is to be disregarded."
The next Audit Report shall repeat the same declaration.
If, before records have been established for a sufficient period of time to meet the requirements of the Bureau's standard practice, the publication should again claim a certain number of renewals or percentage of renewals, either by oral or written communication direct to advertisers or through advertising matter, the managing director shall cite the publisher to appear before the Board of Directors in accordance with the procedure prescribed in 7.4 of the bylaws.
(b) A subscription shall be considered a renewal if received within six months after its expiration and paid for within seven months following receipt.
(c) To obtain the percentage of renewals the total number of expirations during a 12-month period shall be divided into the total number of renewals of these specific expirations. (By "expirations" is meant the date the subscription expired and not the date it was discontinued or stopped.)
(d) The renewal percentage of association subscriptions, term subscriptions in Sponsored Sales and individual subscriptions shall be shown separately. If the total number of term subscriptions in Sponsored Sales is less than 2 percent of the average number of mail subscriptions for the period, a separate renewal percentage for Sponsored Sales shall not be shown.
(e) Subscriptions sent to international, F.P.O. and A.P.O. addresses may be omitted in compiling renewal percentages in which case the phrase "excluding international, F.P.O. and A.P.O." should be used in the renewal paragraph.
