Portugal

[PT] Amendments to Advertising Legislation

IRIS 1995-7:1/12

Ad van Loon

European Audiovisual Observatory

The Law No 330/90 concerning advertising was amended by the Law No 6/95 enacted on 17 January 1995 to bring it in line with the European Directive 84/450 (misleading advertising) and 89/552 ("Television without Frontiers"). The changes redefine the concept of advertising and also concern state and official advertising, regulations governing health and safety and introduce new regulations for radio and television advertising. Section 8, paragraph 2 has been rewritten and sets out that advertising on radio and television must be clearly separated from other programmes and can only be broadcast after being officially announced by a presenter. This announcement must be audible on radio and both audible and visible on television and use the word "advertising" in such a way that it is clearly understandable by the viewer.

Section 26 also sets out the scope of advertising in television and radio; the amount of advertising shown daily should not exceed 15% of scheduling time. In addition, the amount of advertising shown within 1 hour should not exceed 20%, regardless of the above-mentioned regulation. This second regulation applies to complete hours only.

Under Portuguese law, although the European Directive on "Television without Frontiers" only concerns television services, its conditions governing advertising must be adhered to by suppliers of radio services.