Advertisers and agency chiefs will hear how Sweden is policing its ban on advertising to the under-12s - a ban that the country wants extended across the European Union. Axel Edling, the Swedish consumer ombudsman, will tell the conference that the ban is supported by most Swedes. He says it is justified because young children "do not understand what advertising is".

 Under the international code of advertising practice, a basic principle is that advertising should be easily identified as such. While adults will realise that an advert does not give "the whole picture", young children cannot tell the difference between television advertising and other programmes, says Mr Edling.

 Sweden is expected to use its presidency in the EU, which it assumes in January 2001, to push for the introduction of such a ban across the union. In Britain, advertising aimed at children continues to rise. In the last 12 months to September, television advertising of toys amounted to £181.9 million, up from £176.6 million in the same period in 1998.

 A Swedish-style ban is opposed by advertisers and agencies in Britain, although it is backed by organisations such as The Children's Society. According to Rupert Howell, president of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, research by Exeter University suggests that children have developed a good understanding of the "purpose and intent" of advertising by the age of seven or eight.

 British advertisers also claim that a ban on children's advertising would seriously damage funding of independent children's television programmes, a view which is supported by commercial TV chiefs. According to Mr Howell, advertising "helps children to discriminate and to grow up. . . it gives people the freedom to make choices."

 In a speech today, Martin Bowley, head of advertising at Carlton TV, will claim that adults misunderstand the way children "consume media". He will say: "Advertising has a minimal effect on children's awareness of what toys are available. The most important factor is peer pressure on kids seeing what their chums have."