Reporting Periods - Consumer Magazines

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Reporting Periods

Each ABC Certificate has a defined Reporting Period which identifies the date or dates it covers.

Principles

1. You must report a continuous series of Reporting Periods on a mandatory frequency

2. You can report optional shorter Reporting Periods

Requirements 

1. You must report a continuous series of Reporting Periods on a mandatory frequency

1. Once we have issued a publication’s first ABC Certificate for a mandatory Reporting Period we must continue to issue Certificates for subsequent consecutive mandatory Reporting Periods (i.e. so there is no gap in certification) while the publication remains registered.

2. The mandatory Reporting Period will be one of the following:

   1. 12 months, 1^st January to 31^st December

   2. 6 months: 1^st January to 30^th June and 6 months, 1^st July to 31^st December

   3. Monthly: calendar months

   4. For annual publications (1 issue per year) the distribution period (the entire date range over which the claimed copies have been distributed) or a single principal distribution date (the date by which more than 50% of the claimed distribution has occurred.

3. Changing the mandatory frequency, if possible, is expected to be infrequent. We reserve the right to reject or impose conditions on requests to change frequency if in our view this might affect transparency or comparability.

4. If in our opinion there are exceptional changes to a publication during the Reporting Period that mean issuing a Certificate for the mandatory Reporting Period in full might lead to confusion or a lack of transparency in the data certified, then we may agree or require the issue of more than one Certificate covering the mandatory period. For example if a publication changes from a paid circulation model to free circulation during the period then one Certificate could be issued up until the point of change and one from that point to the end of the mandatory Reporting Period. 

2. You can report optional shorter Reporting Periods  

1. Optional Reporting Periods are whole months or any number of whole months in addition to mandatory Reporting Periods. Note: A month is a calendar month.

   1. You can report an optional single issue with the condition that you must then also report to the next 6 month mandatory period end (i.e. to 30th June or to 31st December).

2. For newly registered publications only:

   1. You can report single issues until the start of the next month.

   2. You can report one or more consecutive optional Reporting Periods (i.e. there is no gap in certification) before reporting your first mandatory Reporting Period. 

Guidance Available

Guidance

G2. You can report optional shorter Reporting Periods

1.  Please contact us regarding any additional optional periods as early as possible in order that we can discuss fees and scheduling of audits.