Exhibits and Advertisements Protocols

Below you will find AAP’s policies on advertising and exhibits at CME activities.

Exhibits are vendors who purchase space at your activity to promote their product lines.

• Exhibit funds must be kept separate, you must track exhibit income/expenses as separate budget line items.
• You cannot offer exhibit space/booths/tables as part of the arrangement for commercial support funds.
• Arrangements for commercial exhibits cannot influence planning or interfere with the presentation.
• Exhibit space must be kept separate from areas in which you offer education either online or in-person.
• You cannot have exhibitors in the same room, or on the same screens, as the educational content; you cannot allow reps of ineligible companies to engage in sales/promotional activities while in the same place or online space of the CME activity; planners and presenters cannot self-promote their own materials during an educational session.
• Virtual exhibits should be housed on a separate web page and you should have clear notification, such as a pop-up box, informing learners that they are leaving the educational activity.
• Exhibits and promotional materials will not be in the room of the education sessions or visible on the screen at the same time as the CME content nor interleafed between computer windows or screens of the CME content. They cannot be included within the CME content, there will be no commercial breaks and materials cannot be displayed or distributed in the educational space immediately before, during, or after a CME activity. Educational materials that are part of a CME activity, such as slides, abstracts and handouts, cannot contain any advertising, corporate logo, trade name or a product-group message of an ineligible company.
• You may not place any part of a CME activity on a web site owned or controlled by an ineligible company; ineligible companies may not provide access to, or distribute, any part of a CME activity to learners.
• With clear notification that the learner is leaving the educational activity, links from the educational web site to pharmaceutical and device manufacturers’ product web sites are permitted before or after the educational content of a CME activity but shall not be embedded in the educational content of the CME activity.
• While you can plan time to meet the exhibitors, take a break, view other non-CME content this must occur in a separate space from the education or house these items on a separate website page or channel and can promote them/provide directions before activity starts, after it ends, and during breaks between content sessions, you cannot promote or provide directions while CME content is being delivered to learners.
• New: If you have exhibits, advertisements, promotional, marketing, or non-CME components developed by or with influence from an ineligible company or with planners or faculty with unmitigated financial relationships must not occur in the educational space within 30 minutes before or after an accredited education activity. If non-educational components are occurring in a separate space or screen, the 30-minute interval does not apply. If the non-CME component is not educational in nature (such as a meal or guided meditation break) or would not cause any planners or presenters to have relevant financial relationships (such as a committee update session, business meeting, legislative update, awards ceremony), then the 30-minute interval is not required.
• New: Activities that are part of the event but are not for CME credit must be clearly labeled and communicated to learners as such.
• New: If an activity has financial/in-kind supporters, exhibitors, advertisers, and/or other external companies where an attendee list has been promised, you cannot share attendee contact information with them unless you first receive learner consent.
• As with all CME activities delivered in an online format, accreditation staff needs to review virtual exhibit set-ups before activity launches. Screenshots capturing this separation need to be submitted for the CME file.
  Advertisement are the ads that you sell to outside sources to promote their product lines and place in materials that are distributed at your activity.

Advertisement funds must be kept separate, you must track your ad income/expenses as separate budget line items.

• You cannot offer advertisements as part of the arrangement for commercial support funds.
• Arrangements for advertisements cannot influence planning or interfere with the presentation.
• Advertisement that you sell cannot be placed in any materials that contain educational content. Educational materials that are part of a CME activity, such as slides, abstracts and handouts, cannot contain any advertising, corporate logo, trade name or a product-group message of an ineligible company.
• Product-promotion material or product-specific advertisement of any type is prohibited in or during CME activities. The juxtaposition of editorial and advertising material on the same products or subjects must be avoided and promotional activities must be kept separate from CME.
• Advertisements and promotional materials must not be visible on the screen at the same time as the CME content nor interleafed between pages, computer windows or screens of the content; materials may face the first or last pages of printed CME content as long as these materials are not related to the CME content they face and are not paid for by the commercial supporters of the CME activity.
• You may not place any part of a CME activity on a web site owned or controlled by an ineligible company; ineligible companies may not provide access to, or distribute, any part of a CME activity to learners.
• With clear notification that the learner is leaving the educational web site, links from the web site of an ACCME accredited provider to pharmaceutical and device manufacturers’ product Web sites are permitted before or after the educational content of a CME activity but shall not be embedded in the educational content of a CME activity.
• Advertising of any type is prohibited within the educational content of CME activities on the internet including, but not limited to, banner ads, subliminal ads, and pop-up window ads.
• Advertisements and promotional materials cannot be included in the CME content, there must be no commercial breaks.
• Advertisements and promotional materials cannot be displayed or distributed in the educational space immediately before, during, or after a CME activity.
• You cannot allow reps of ineligible companies to engage in sales/promotional activities while in the same place or online space of the CME activity; planners and presenters cannot self-promote their own materials during an educational session.
• No elements of journal-based CME can contain any advertising or product group messages of ineligible companies; learners must not encounter advertising within the pages of the article or within the pages of the related questions or evaluation materials.
• New: If you have exhibits, advertisements, promotional, marketing, or non-CME components developed by or with influence from an ineligible company or with planners or faculty with unmitigated financial relationships must not occur in the educational space within 30 minutes before or after an accredited education activity. If non-educational components are occurring in a separate space or screen, the 30-minute interval does not apply. If the non-CME component is not educational in nature (such as a meal or guided meditation break) or would not cause any planners or presenters to have relevant financial relationships (such as a committee update session, business meeting, legislative update, awards ceremony), then the 30-minute interval is not required.
• New: Activities that are part of the event but are not for CME credit must be clearly labeled and communicated to learners as such.
• New: If an activity has financial/in-kind supporters, exhibitors, advertisers, and/or other external companies where an attendee list has been promised, you cannot share attendee contact information with them unless you first receive learner consent.