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Procedures on the media coverage of elections in Portugal have been changed during the past year and had effect on recent elections, both legislative and presidential (on October 2015 and January 2016, respectively). Currently, the law on the media coverage of elections (no. 72-A/2015) stipulates as a general principle (Article 4) that, during elections, the media enjoy editorial freedom and freedom of programming. Amongst changes introduced is the exclusion of the relevance of political proposals for the choice of democratic alternatives as criteria for political representativeness in debates...

On 1 March 2016, the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland’s (ASAI) new Code of Standards for Advertising and Marketing Communications in Ireland (7th edition) came into effect (for previous codes, see IRIS 2006-2/24 and IRIS 2002-5/21). The ASAI is an independent self-regulatory body, and the code applies to advertising and marketing communication in all media in Ireland, including television and digital media. The new 132-page code contains a number of new provisions, including the following: first, there is a new section on e-cigarettes, which provides that “marketing communications for...

On 13 April 2016, Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, issued a Statement concerning e-cigarettes. It specifies amendments which Ofcom is making to the Broadcast Code and also the amendments which it has instructed the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice to make to the BCAP Code: the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising. BCAP had introduced rules on the marketing of e-cigarettes in 2014 (see IRIS 2015-1/23). The changes were ordered by the UK Secretary for Health under section 321(6) of the Communications Act 2003. The amendments arise from the UK’s implementation of the EU Tobacco Products...

The 7th Chamber of the Verwaltungsgericht Hannover (Hanover Administrative Court) in a judgment of 18 February 2016 (Case 7 A 13293/15) has held that if a chocolate biscuit is too highly praised in a TV show, this constitutes prohibited product placement. In a controversial scene lasting about ninety seconds in the RTL show “Ich bin ein Star - Holt mich hier raus” (Dschungelcamp) (I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here [Jungle Camp]), the show’s participants were given a metal box with a big packet of “Pick Up” chocolate biscuits manufactured by food manufacturer, Bahlsen. The participants opened...

According to media reports, in a judgment of 1 December 2015 (Case U 74/15) the Kammergericht Berlin (Berlin Higher Regional Court) ruled in appellate proceedings that advertising for virtual products in an online role-playing game should not necessarily be regarded as a direct invitation to children to buy the items. There was, the Court said, no breach of competition law as the advertising messages in the game were not aimed specifically at minors but at all players. The Court had to rule on a complaint from the Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (Federation of German Consumer Organisations) concerning...