‘One-sided’ advertising rules come under attack

Date: 01/05/1997

By Leyla Linton

PLANS for new rules to identify areas where national regulations on advertising might conflict with the single market are coming under fire from consumer groups and MEPs.

The consumers' organisation BEUC claims the European Commission has taken a “one-sided approach” to the issue and its proposals fail to take their interests into consideration.

BEUC says that it is “very unhappy” with the Commission's Green Paper on commercial communications, which covers all forms of cross-border advertising, including marketing and sponsorship.

“The whole thrust of the Green Paper seems to be how a barrier-free market can be created for commercial communications suppliers,” said the group's spokeswoman Valerie Thompson.

“It pays little attention to the interests of consumers on issues such as the maintenance and improvement of standards.”

A draft report on the Green Paper by Dutch MEP Jessica Larive echoes these concerns.

Larive claims that the paper, while identifying the important role of users, suppliers and carriers, “ignores the role of consumers”. She is urging the Commission to come up with a more detailed assessment of the effects on them of commercial communications.

Larive acknowledges that 99&percent; of companies providing commercial communication services identified potential trade barriers linked to disparity in national regulations and that “the single market still has a long way to go before completion”.

But she argues that greater cross-border protection for consumers is also necessary. “The internal market is meant to be for the consumer, not just industry,” she concluded.

Her report calls on the Commission, advertisers and industry to strengthen the self-regulatory complaints procedures which already exist. It also urges the Commission, which proposes to set up a committee to deal with the issue, to ensure that industry and consumers have the same level of representation on it as member states.

A list of existing barriers to the free circulation of commercial communications services should also be drawn up by the Commission, says Larive.

Recent conflicts between the Commission and EU governments have highlighted the problems facing companies which want to advertise their products in other member states.

Greece is maintaining its daytime ban on toy advertising, despite Commission warnings of legal action, and Sweden wants to maintain its restriction on all advertising for children.