The Verkhovna Rada, at its meeting on March 11, adopted as a basis Bill No. 12253 on Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Advertising” and other laws of Ukraine.
The explanatory note notes that the bill is aimed at updating the Law “On Advertising” in terms of finalizing certain of its provisions, taking into account market changes caused by the rapid growth of the digital advertising segment, as well as the rapid development of digital technologies, in particular, artificial intelligence, namely:
1. Harmonizes the provisions of the Law “On Advertising” on the prevention of discriminatory advertising with the provisions of the Law “On Media”.
2. Promotes legal certainty by clearly delimiting the concept of direct advertising as a separate form of advertising, as well as restrictions on the procedure for distributing direct advertising and sponsorship as opposed to the procedure for distributing advertising in general, in particular, for advertising and direct advertising of certain categories of goods.
3. Defines a place of trade in order to distinguish between advertising and information in places of trade.
4. Improves the norms regarding the methods of identifying all forms of advertising and other information distributed in accordance with the Law “On Advertising”.
5. Prohibits the unlawful use of deepfakes in advertising, and also determines the procedure for joint and self-regulation regarding the responsible use of artificial intelligence systems in advertising.
6. Unifies the requirements for the procedure for distributing warnings in direct advertising of certain categories of goods.
7. Systematizes restrictions on advertising and direct advertising of alcoholic beverages, trademarks, and other objects of intellectual property rights under which alcoholic beverages are produced.
In particular, direct advertising of alcoholic beverages, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights under which alcoholic beverages are produced is prohibited:
1) in any audiovisual and audio media, regardless of their distribution technology, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.;
2) in all printed media (except specialized publications);
3) by means of internal advertising;
4) by means of advertising events (except for special exhibition events for alcoholic beverages);
5) on the external and internal surfaces of public transport vehicles and the metro;
6) by means of outdoor advertising.
8. Clarifies the powers of the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting as the only body vested with exclusive competence to hold media entities of all forms of ownership liable for violating the requirements of this Law, and also determines that the Central Executive Body implementing state policy in the field of state control over compliance with consumer protection legislation shall impose fines in accordance with the procedure specified by the Law of Ukraine “On Administrative Procedure”.
9. Corrects a technical error in Part 10 of Article 27 of the Law “On Advertising” regarding the legal basis for imposing a fine for ordering advertising on websites that raise concerns about compliance with intellectual property rights.
