GardX Protection is to resume marketing activity on the effectiveness of its paint protection products in delaying the corrosive effect of bird droppings.

The Advertising Standards Agency had ruled earlier this month, in response to a complaint from a competitor Autoglym, that GardX should amend its marketing material to remove these claims because it had failed to provide the evidence the agency required to support them.

But GardX responded by carrying out the required ISO test, giving the results to the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), which writes the codes administered by the ASA.

CAP confirmed to AM it had received subsequent ISO-based test evidence from GardX. CAP said the evidence supported the paint protection company’s claims about its products' ability to delay the damaging effects of bird droppings.

A CAP spokesman said: "The recent ASA adjudication on Gardx stated that ISO 2812-5 2007 was an appropriate standard for testing the effects of bird droppings on cars.

"GardX sent new test results to CAP following this adjudication based on that ISO. The tests concluded that 'the GardX treatment delays damage to paintwork'.

"CAP is happy the claim, 'the GardX paint protection system will delay the effects of bird droppings but paintwork damage will occur if the droppings are not removed in a timely manner', was likely to be acceptable.'”

The latest development does not mean the ASA adjudication has been overturned.

An ASA spokesman said the matter was now subject to an independent review. This will be carried out by Sir Hayden Phillips, independent reviewer of ASA adjudications. "If he is satisfied, he will put to the ASA Council a recommendation for it to reconsider its ruling," the ASA spokesman said.

The subject of the original complaint was a GardX brochure for paint protection products. It stated: "The GardX paint protection system will delay the corrosive effect of bird droppings, but paintwork damage will occur if the droppings are not removed in a timely manner."

Autoglym claimed this was misleading.

Victor Coutin, chief executive of Gardx Protection, said: “It was never in doubt that Gardx would be vindicated. Our products are some of the finest in the world and whilst I can understand the competition, such as AutoGlym, feeling threatened by our success its attempts to sabotage our product have rightly failed.

"Gardx challenged the ASA decision, providing clear evidence that our paint protection product had been tested to the ISO 2812-5 2007 standard; and that the statement appearing on its advertising, that had been adjudicated against, was not misleading. It is believed Gardx is the only paint protection company in the UK to have successfully achieved the ISO test standard."