The Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards (Jicwebs) will push its brand safety efforts in the UK and the Trustworthy Accountability Group (Tag) in the US will lead activities on fighting fraud, malware and piracy.

Tag will endorse the Jicwebs Digital Trading Standards Group (DTSG) brand safety initiative to companies active in the UK market. 

The alignment will involve three stages: Jicwebs will offer Tag registration in the UK; Jicwebs anti-fraud programmes will be merged into Tag’s by the end of 2018; and both their brand safety initiatives will be aligned by 2019.

Richard Foan, chair of Jicwebs, said: “Jicwebs and Tag are committed to raising standards in digital advertising, so it makes sense to create a consistent approach across the UK and US, which is what many from both the buy and sell side want.

“Initially, the partnership will offer a practical way for companies operating in the UK market to buy and benefit from both Tag’s and Jicwebs’ products, with the aim to fuse the best bits from both approaches to create a ‘super’ programme that maximises brand safety and minimises fraud.”