Lithuania

[LT] Order of Identification of Political Advertising Approved

IRIS 2009-6:1/25

Jurgita Iešmantaitė

Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania

The Law on Funding of Political Parties and Political Campaigns, and the Control of Funding (see IRIS 2008-8: 15) envisages that political advertising and its sources of funding shall be identified and adequately separated from the rest of the disseminated information. Following the provisions of the Law, the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Radio and TV Commission of Lithuania approved the Order of Identification of Political Advertising in Radio and TV Programmes in March 2009.

The Order seeks to determine the necessary requirements for the identification of political advertising in Radio and TV programmes that apply to all broadcasters and are valid irrespective of whether the political campaign is announced or not. According to the Order each announcement or part of a programme dedicated to political advertising shall be indicated by acoustic means in radio programmes and a visual symbol in TV programmes and also the sources of funding shall be revealed. In cases where programmes dedicated to political advertising are interrupted by other kinds of advertising, news, musical breaks, etc., there has to be additional information that a political advertisement was being broadcast beforehand and the sources of funding shall be indicated again.

It has to be noted that in TV programmes during an election (referendum) campaign, which usually lasts for 30 days before the elections, all announcements and parts of programmes dedicated to the political campaign, shall be identified by a notice “election/referendum campaign”; in radio programmes this shall be announced by acoustic means. In addition, during the announcements or programmes a notice of no less than 2 seconds shall be shown/aired, indicating that the campaign is being paid for either out of a special account of an independent political campaign member or out of the State budget.

The CEC monitors whether broadcasters adhere to these requirements. Liability for infringements is laid down in the Code of Administrative Offences. The amount of the fines ranges from EUR 286 to 2,857. The cases can be investigated in court on the basis of documentation provided by the CEC.