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21. 08. 2008

More than 35 Non-Governmental Organisations Joined the Media Sector Reform Group and their Initiative to Change the Existing Advertising Law

Media Sector Reform Group is striving to introduce amendments to the existing Advertising Law (published in 'The Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia', No. 79/2005) with an aim to rectify certain inconsistencies in the text of this Law, as well as to provide for a more favourable treatment of public service advertisements of non-profit organizations promoting  charity activities and humanitarian campaigns. The Media Sector Reform Group is made up of representatives of the Independent Association of Journalists in Serbia (NUNS), Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and Association of Independent Local Printed Media 'Local Press'.

According to the Report written by Slobodan Kremenjak, a lawyer from the ANEM Legal Team, Advertising Law in its existing form permits commercial stations to broadcast the maximum of 12 minutes of advertisements per hour of their airtime, while the public service broadcaster can dedicate the maximum of 6 minutes of their airtime hour to advertisements. In such a limited advertising space civil sector organizations wishing to advertise their activities on the air, and especially on the media with national coverage, face direct competition from commercial advertisers that are readily paying high market prices for advertising during commercial airtime.

Additionally, according to the Article 86 of the Advertising Law, public service advertising (i.e., advertising of activities of state, state institutions and organizations, territorial autonomy institutions and local governments on radio or television that are of public importance for citizens, majority of citizens or for a minority social group), if broadcast free of charge, is calculated separately and not within the prescribed airtime slot dedicated to advertising. If the same exception to the rule were to be applied to advertising of humanitarian and other activities performed by the civil sector organizations for public interest, broadcasters would be in the position to offer their airtime to the civil sector organizations regardless of their financial abilities to pay for the broadcasting of their advertisements, and without any need for these organizations to compete for advertising space and airtime with commercial advertisers.

The initiative of the Media Sector Reform Group has been endorsed and supported by more than 35 organizations from the civil sector, all recognizing the importance of this initiative both for the future development of media organizations and for the future development of the civil sector in Serbia. The initiative has been publicly presented in May 2008, and submitted to the relevant state bodies for their consideration in June 2008.

You can download the text of the Advertising Law here

Following documents are provided for below:

*The list of the civil sector organizations, signatories of the Initiative proposed by the Media Sec
*The Legal Analysis written by Slobodan Kremenjak and the proposed amendments to the Advertising Law

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