12. 12. 2012

ANEM INITIATIVE FOR ADOPTION OF A NEW ADVERTISING LAW

Considering that the Advertising Law, although not a media law, has an important impact on the functioning of media, but also that existing law is full of shortcomings, ANEM sent a letter today to the Ministry of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications and the Ministry of Culture and Media, urging the adoption of the new Advertising Law. Bearing in mind that development of a set of media laws is currently underway, ANEM urged the Ministry of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications to initiate, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Media, the procedure of adoption of the new Advertising Law as soon as possible, in order to  avoid passing of regulations that would be in conflict with each other.

Although the Action Plan for the implementation of the Media Strategy allows for the reconsideration of possible revision of the Advertising Law instead of passing a completely new one, ANEM stated in its letter the reasons for requesting the latter:

• the existing Advertising Law does not constitute an adequate legal framework to fit the changed business conditions in the media market, therefore merely amending the law would not correspond adequately to new circumstances;
• the Law was adopted back in 2005 and it does not recognize the new trends in advertising on electronic media; in addition, the law does not comply with European legislation and practice in this area;
• seven years have passed since the adoption of the law, while in the meantime, the new EU Directive on Audiovisual Media Services has been adopted, which has introduced new rules for advertising on electronic media, especially in terms of TV advertising;
• current Advertising Law allows for the possibility of different interpretations, thus causing serious problems in its application;
• It is essential that the new Advertising Law also regulate some other issues otherwise not provided for in the Advertising Law, such as the issue of advertising within foreign programs that are rebroadcast in Serbia, as well as other issues that have been identified as problematic in the work of broadcasters.

ANEM also noted that the new law should not rely on the Draft Advertising Law from 2010, whose drafting excluded the participation of the working group and which was withdrawn, at the insistence of the working group and other stakeholders, as it was not properly aligned with the current European legal framework, or even domestic regulations.

In addition, ANEM requested from the Ministry of Culture and Media to inform the public about the activities undertaken in order to meet the obligation it had committed to, to review the possibility of amending the Advertising Law, given that the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Media Strategy had foreseen the deadline of up to 10 months and that the Ministry, as a designated holder of the said activity, had not yet informed the public about these activities even 15 months after the adoption of the Strategy.

Following the letter, ANEM will undertake a series of necessary activities to ensure the approval of its initiative for adoption of the new Advertising Law, which is in the best interest of its members and other media.

ANEM letter is available here (only in Serbian)