The Ordinance on Advertising is a document that provides relatively comprehensive regulations on advertising activities, which have now exposed certain drawbacks. The Law on Advertising with new regulations has promptly replaced it and officially came into effect on January 1, 2013.
Article table of contents
Highlighting some new points of the Law on Advertising. First to mention is the State management of advertising activities, the law specifically stipulates products, goods, and services prohibited from advertising, including: tobacco, alcohol with an alcohol content of 15 degrees, milk for children under 24 months old, nutritional products for children under 6 months old, baby bottles, artificial pacifiers; prescription drugs, drugs recommended by State agencies to limit use or use under the supervision of a physician; sexually stimulating products, products inciting violence; hunting guns, hunting ammunition, sports weapons. Regarding prohibited advertising behavior, additional content such as: aesthetically unpleasing advertisements, violations of freedom of belief and religion, gender prejudice, discrimination against people with disabilities, advertisements using direct comparison methods, advertisements using words such as "best", "only", "number one" or similar meanings without legal proof, intellectual property violations, advertisements affecting children...
Next, the law distinguishes the subjects participating in advertising activities to specifically stipulate their rights and obligations, including: rights and obligations of advertisers; advertising service businesses; advertising publishers; those renting advertising locations and facilities, and those receiving advertisements. Additionally, a new subject, the advertisement recipient, is introduced with specific rights and obligations, such as: the right to request compensation for damages from advertisers or advertising publishers when advertisements do not match the quality or price... and the right to file complaints or civil lawsuits as prescribed by law...
The Law on Advertising also abolishes the license for advertising on billboards and banners, replacing it with the procedure of notifying advertising products to the State management agency on advertising before conducting advertising activities; abolishes the license for advertising supplements, replacing it with the notification procedure to the State management agency on the press; abolishes the receipt of advertising dossier (or procedure for registering advertising content) for goods and services in the fields of health, agriculture, and rural development, replacing it with the condition that must be implemented according to Article 20 of the Law on Advertising and mandatory contents stipulated in the Government Decree.
Hopefully, the above contents and other regulations of the Law on Advertising, when applied in real life, will promote advertising activities to both develop and be scientifically and conformably managed, aiming to protect the consumers.
Source: Bao Bac Lieu
