IJC Analysis: The Government Has Delays in Implementing the New Law on Advertising

The Government of the Republic of Moldova is late in approving the regulations on establishing and operation of the Council for messages of public interest, as stipulated by the new law on advertising which came into power half a year ago. This statement is published by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) which detected several delays in the implementation of this normative act.

The new law on advertising was adopted on March 7, 2022. The document provides the basis for regulation of political advertising, messages of public interest, commercials, broadcasting ads, outdoor advertising, advertising for specific products, and self-regulation in the sphere of advertising.

According to the IJC analysis, the Government of the Republic of Moldova has not complied with its obligation to approve the regulations on establishing and operation of the Council for messages of public interest until April 8, 2023. “This state of things delays the process of correct and efficient implementation of the provisions of the new law on advertising, thus causing a blockage in implementing messages of public interest”, the authors consider. The IJC also mentions that the Government’s “delay” results in the possibility of eventual discrepancies in the regulations to be included in normative administrative acts on messages of public interest to be considered by the other authorities.

In addition, the IJC recommends the Government of the Republic of Moldova to urgently approve the regulations on the structure, method of constitution, organization, and operation of the Council for messages of public interest, because the new normative act is of particular importance, especially in the context of the rapid development of the advertising sphere, diversification of the means of expression in advertising, and the issues in the previous practices of the authorities which have the powers to supervise and control the compliance with the law in question.

According to the new legal framework, the institutions in charge of supervising compliance with the legislation in the sphere of advertising activity are the Competition Council, the Broadcasting Council, and the Police, to the extent of their powers and authorities.