• January 9, 2005

The BPA Worldwide Board of Directors announced several rule amendments to its business and consumer magazine compliance requirements late Friday.

Among the decisions, magazines that list digital subscriptions downloads as part of their total circulation will be required to be more transparent, listing the breakout of such downloads throughout audit reports, rather than just in the explanatory paragraph.

The listing of these circulation figures must also be disclosed specifically in any promotional copy. Magazines still have the option of reporting digital subscriptions without providing actual download information.

In addition, among other amendments, the Board strictly limited the use of pre-populated Web and e-mail-based registration forms for circulation re-qualification forms, and limited their use to single-response questions only.

--Michael Shields