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Every comment Adclear raises during a review traces back to a rule. Rules are how your organisation’s policies (regulatory obligations, internal standards, tone-of-voice guidelines) get translated into something the platform applies consistently across every promotion. Compliance Admins and Marketing Admins can see every rule in the workspace and change where each one applies. The check itself (what a rule looks for) is managed by Adclear and refined over time based on reviewer feedback.
The Rules page is an add-on enabled per organisation. If you don’t see Rules in your navigation, speak to your Adclear contact.

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What a rule is

A rule is a single applied check the platform runs against the content of a promotion. It has three parts. When a rule is triggered and the check fails, Adclear raises a comment on the promotion. The reviewer sees the comment, the reasoning, and the source, and decides how to respond.
Rules are shown as summaries in Adclear, not the full underlying detail. The summary covers what the rule does, the scope shows when it applies, and the Changelog shows how it has changed. The detailed check logic isn’t shown, and only Adclear can edit the summary.

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How rules are applied to a promotion

When a promotion is reviewed, Adclear selects the rules in scope for it based on product, channel, jurisdiction, content type, and targeting. The review surfaces the issues it finds as comments on the promotion, each with its reasoning and the source rule. Adclear does not record a pass or fail against every rule in scope, so there is no per-rule record of every rule checked on a promotion. To see which rules are active for a given product, channel and jurisdiction, use the filters on the Rules page.

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How rules come from policies

Each rule is grounded in a regulatory framework your business operates under (for example, FCA financial promotions guidance) or in your organisation’s own standards (for example, claim substantiation requirements or tone-of-voice principles). Once a policy is in place, Adclear works with your Compliance team to translate the relevant requirements into rules. Each rule is connected to the broader compliance content in your workspace. Adding or removing a link doesn’t create a new version of the rule and doesn’t need a reason.

Linked to promotions

The promotions the rule has been raised against during review. Compliance Admins and Marketing Admins can also link promotions to a rule manually.

Linked to claims

Claims the rule relates to, for example a substantiation requirement. Compliance Admins and Marketing Admins can link and unlink them.

Linked to disclaimers

Disclaimers the rule requires. Compliance Admins and Marketing Admins can link and unlink them. The wording itself is managed from the Policies & disclaimers page.

Linked to policies

The source policies and handbook references the rule implements. Compliance Admins and Marketing Admins can link and unlink them from the rule’s sidebar.

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Edit a rule

Compliance Admins and Marketing Admins can change the parts of a rule that decide when it applies. Every change is recorded in the Changelog. To edit a rule shared into your workspace, open it in the workspace it belongs to. See Shared rules.
1

Open the latest version

Open the rule from the Rules page. You can only add a version from the rule’s latest version.
2

Add a new version

Click + next to the version selector, or open the version selector and choose Add version. The Add New Version dialog opens with the current name and scope filled in.
3

Make your changes

Update the Rule Name, Products, Channels, Jurisdictions, or Content Types. Communication Types and Targeting Exclusions appear when your workspace uses them.
4

Give a reason and save

Explain the change in Reason for change (up to 500 characters), then click Create Version. The new version is active straight away.
The check, linked items, and other settings carry over unchanged. If someone else saves a newer version while you have the dialog open, Adclear won’t overwrite it. Refresh the page and make your change again.

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The changelog

The Changelog on each rule records how it has changed. A new entry is added each time a version is published, and each time the rule is archived or restored. It’s visible to everyone who can see the Rules page. Entries also show who made the change, the date, and the reason where one was given. A Scope change entry shows what changed in each scope field: removed items in red and struck through, added items in green, and All or Custom when a field switches between every item and a custom selection. The three newest entries show by default. Expand the section to see the full history. If you need a fuller history for an audit, speak to your Adclear contact.

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Where to see rules

1

Open the Rules page

From the main navigation, open Rules. This shows the rules currently active for your workspace.
2

Filter by scope

Filter by product, ad type (channel), jurisdiction, content type, targeting, rule type, or rule tag. Rule tags are separate from the campaign tags used on the promotion dashboard. Turn on Archived to see archived rules.
3

Open a rule for detail

Click any rule to see its summary, scope, tags, linked items, and Changelog.
Rules are visible to Compliance Admin and Marketing Admin roles. Other roles see the outcome of a rule (the comment on a promotion) but not the Rules page. See How roles work.

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How rules get refined

Every reviewer response to a comment (agree, disagree, dismiss with context) feeds into how the rule is calibrated over time. A rule that comments too aggressively gets tightened; a rule that misses cases gets adjusted. The substance of the comment matters as much as the click. See Helping Adclear learn.

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Evidencing your rule coverage

The Changelog lists every version, archive, and restore with its date, author, and, where available, what changed and why. See The changelog.
Filter the Rules page by product, channel, jurisdiction, content type, rule type, or rule tag. See Where to see rules.
Each rule links to the source policy it implements, and to any related claims and disclaimers. See How rules link to your wider compliance setup.

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Shared rules

Sharing rules across workspaces is turned on per organisation. Speak to your Adclear contact to set it up.
A rule belongs to the workspace it was created in. Where sharing is turned on, Compliance Admins and Marketing Admins can share a rule into other workspaces in the organisation from the Sharing field in the rule’s sidebar.
  • In the workspaces it’s shared into, the rule is applied in reviews and is marked Shared from another workspace. It’s read-only there.
  • To change a shared rule, open it in the workspace it belongs to. Changes apply in every workspace it’s shared into.
  • Reviewer feedback from every workspace the rule is shared into shapes how it’s refined.

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Frequently asked questions

No. The check is managed by Adclear. You can change where a rule applies (see Edit a rule). If a rule is checking for the wrong thing, or a rule is missing, raise it through the Get Help bot or tag @Adclear Support on a specific comment.
You need the Compliance Admin or Marketing Admin role, and the rule must belong to your workspace rather than be shared into it. To add a version, you also need to be viewing the latest version of a rule that isn’t archived.
Add another version that puts the scope back, with a reason. Both versions stay in the Changelog.
Rules can be over-applied, especially early on. Have the reviewer click Relevant, Not Required or Dismiss with a comment explaining the context. This is how the rule gets recalibrated, and the next Changelog entry will reflect it.
Use a sticky comment on the promotion (the + icon at the top right of the asset viewer) to mark what was missed, and tag @Adclear Support. Adclear uses these signals to expand the rule.
No. Each organisation has its own rule set, and workspaces within an organisation can have different rules. Where sharing is turned on, a rule can be shared across workspaces. See Shared rules.

Helping Adclear learn

How reviewer responses calibrate rules over time.

How roles work

Who can see and edit rules.

Compliance policies

Where source policies and disclaimers are managed.

Feature catalog

Every Adclear feature in one place.

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Still need help?

Contact support at support@adclear.ai.