25. 12. 2005

LAW ON ADVERTISING COMES INTO EFFECT

BELGRADE, December 25, 2005 – The Law on Advertising is in effect as of today, but, according to experts, it will have to be amended because it contains some loopholes. Member of the Serbian Broadcasting Agency Slobodan Djoric said the law had several defects, because it has not covered all forms of advertising. He gave the example of advertisements in scripts in various entertainment shows, as well as registering ads screened with the picture-in-picture technology, often employed during live broadcasts of sporting events. The Parliament has also passed a DS amendment allowing political parties to place advertisements outside pre-election campaigns, which was initially supposed to be prohibited in the government’s bill proposal. Parties will be allowed to advertise themselves on posters, billboards, greeting cards, calendars and the like, but they will not be permitted to do this through radio and television outside the official timeframe for electoral campaigns. The new law also prohibits the advertising of tobacco products and alcoholic beverages, other than beer and wine, which are allowed to be advertised in between 6 p.m. and the early morning hours. The law also includes special regulations for advertising drugs and various pharmaceutical products. Commercial electronic media cannot use more than 20% of their daily program for advertising, while the limit for the public broadcaster is 10%. The law also sets fines for violations, ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 dinars (in between 1,200 and 6,000 euros) and in cases of drastic violations, the court can temporarily ban individual advertisers for a period of in between one to 12 months, and in some cases, up to five years.