Intro
Petition campaign material is material published to promote the success or failure of a recall petition.
Under the Recall of MPs Act 2015, there are rules about putting imprints on recall petition material.
Whenever printed recall petition material is produced, it must contain certain details (which we refer to as an ‘imprint’) to show who is responsible for the material. This helps to ensure there is transparency about who is campaigning.
We provide advice and guidance on these rules but we do not enforce them. Decisions on the investigation and prosecution of imprint offences are a matter for the police and the prosecution services, and any allegations of non-compliance should be made to the police.
The rules on imprints apply to all petition campaigners, whether or not you are registered with the Petition Officer. This factsheet explains the rules you must follow.
Under the Elections Act 2022, imprints are also required on certain digital material. This factsheet does not cover that part of the law. For the imprint requirements on digital material, please see our statutory guidance on digital imprints .
What is recall petition material?
What is a recall petition campaigner?
Recall petition campaigners are individuals or organisations that campaign to promote the success or failure of a petition to recall an MP once a petition has been triggered under the Recall of MPs act 2015.
What is recall petition material?
Recall petition material is material such as leaflets, adverts and websites published to promote or procure the success of failure of a recall petition.
There are general rules on recall petition material, and other campaign activity, undertaken by recall petition campaigners that may also apply to you. These rules cover spending limits, donations and reporting. You can read more in our guidance for recall petition campaigners.
What must you include?
On printed election material such as leaflets and posters, you must include the name and address of:
- the printer
- the promoter
- any person on behalf of whom the material is being published (and who is not the promoter)
The promoter is whoever has caused the material to be published.
You must use an address where you can be contacted. You can use a home address or an office or business address. You can also use a PO Box address or other mailbox service.
If you are putting an advert in a print newspaper, your advert does not need to include the printer’s name and address, but the name and address of the printer of the newspaper must appear on the first or last page of the newspaper. The advert must include the other details as usual.
If you are being paid to publish election material, the material must include an imprint which includes the details of whoever is paying you. This is because either they are the promoter, or you are publishing the material on their behalf.
In all cases, you must make sure that the imprint lists all the organisations involved in publishing and promoting the material.
It is an offence for a printer or promoter to publish printed election material without an imprint.
Example of an imprint
If you are a registered petition campaigner, the promoter may be the person notified to the Petition Officer as the ‘responsible person’, or someone authorised by them to incur spending, or the organisation itself.
A standard imprint should look like this:
Printed by Armadillo Printing Ltd, 20 Barry Avenue, Leeds.
Promoted by J Smith on behalf of the Campaign Group, both of 110 High Street, Stafford.
Where do you put the imprint?
If your material is a single-sided printed document – such as a window poster – or where most of the information is on one side, you must put the imprint on that side of the document.
If it is a multi-sided printed document, you must put it on the first or last page.
For the law on where imprints must appear on digital material, please see our statutory guidance on digital imprints.