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On 22 November 2012, the Hungarian National Assembly adopted the new Act XXXVI of 2013 on the Electoral Procedure (hereinafter “the new Electoral Procedure”), which lays down amended rules regarding political advertising during campaign periods for national parliamentary, municipal, and European Parliamentary elections. According to Article 32 (3) of Act CLXXXV of 2010 on Media Services and Mass Media (hereinafter “the Media Law”) political advertisements may only be disseminated in compliance with the relevant rules of the new Electoral Procedure. Political advertisements are programmes released...

The Federal Council (the Swiss government) has modified, with effect from 1 June 2013, the concession granted to the Swiss radio and television broadcasting company (SSR) to allow it to develop its activities on the Internet. The measure was adopted after negotiations between SSR and newspaper editors with a view to concluding a collaboration agreement in the field of Internet (see IRIS 2012-9/13) had broken down. The Federal Council then maintained the principle of not allowing SSR to use advertising or sponsoring on its Internet sites, and expressed its intention to allow the public-service broadcaster...

In a recently published decision of 11 September 2013, the Austrian Bundeskommunikationssenat (Federal Communications Board - BKS) ruled on the distinction between sponsor references and product placement. In the case at hand, the Austrian public broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) had displayed the logo of the Austrian daily newspaper “Kurier” to the right of the match clock on several occasions during a football match when the match score had been shown. The regulator, KommAustria, had considered the appearance of the advertising logo as a sponsor reference prohibited under Article 17(1)...

On 27 August 2013 the Loi du 27 août 2013 portant création de l’établissement public “Autorité luxembourgeoise indépendante de l’audiovisuel” (Law of 27 August 2013 on the creation of the Independent Audiovisual Authority of Luxembourg, ALIA law) was formally adopted by the Grand-Duke of Luxembourg. The Chambre des Députés (parliamentary assembly) as well as the Conseil d’Etat (State Council) had both given their approval to the creation of the new authority in July 2013. The ALIA Act, which was proposed in October 2012, (see IRIS 2013-1/28) was published on 9 September 2013 in the Mémorial (Luxembourg...

A radio advertisement for the short-term lender Pounds to Pocket was branded “socially irresponsible” by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on 25 September 2013, and banned from being rebroadcast in its current form. The ASA took action after a listener complained that the advertisement, which featured an alien character called Bert, trivialised the process of applying for credit and taking on debt. The advertisement began with a voiceover saying: “Breaking news. Alien life forms are coming to Pounds to Pocket for help with their finances.” A character with a distorted 'alien' voice then...