Legislation
Laws
The Law of the Republic of Armenia on Advertising
Chapter 2. General and specific requirements towards advertising
Article 5. General requirements towards advertising
Advertising should be legal, reliable and proper.
Advertising language in the Republic of Armenia is Armenian.
If necessary, at the advertiser's discretion, advertising presentation may be dubbed also into other languages - in relatively small letters.
This provision doesn't apply to foreign language newspapers, special publications, labels and trade marks.
The volume of an advertising presentation in Armenian shouldn't be less than the information of the foreign language version.
Article 6. Legality of advertising
Advertising is prohibited and is considered to be illegal if it is carried out by means of:
a) taking advantage of people's trust, their lack of experience or knowledge;
b) discrediting the consumers that don't use the advertised goods;
c) making use of prejudice and superstitions;
d) using expressions, discrediting a competitor or a group of competitors, as well as the characteristic features of the produced and sold merchandise, or improper comparisons with other legal or physical persons and goods;
e) using information not corresponding to the real demands of the goods;
f) appealing people for violence, aggression, panic, as well as violation of conventional norms of morality;
g) using appeals and argumentation directed towards the environment;
h) using appeals and argumentation, calling for activities threatening the life, health and the safety of a consumer;
i) using a project, a text, advertising formulas, illustrations, music and sound effects and other means to mislead consumers.
Article 7. Reliability of advertising
An advertisement should be banned if the reliability of advertising is violated and if it concerns:
?) the description of a merchandise – nature, composition, manufacturing date, purpose, consumer characteristics, conditions of application, accordance with the standards, quantity, country of origin;
b) the cost and the price of a merchandise at the moment when the advertisement is published;
c) the supplementary conditions of payment;
d) the delivery, exchange, repayment, repair, maintenance and operation of a merchandise;
e) the guarantee obligations;
Article 8. Appropriateness of advertising
An advertisement is banned if it violates the appropriateness of advertising, namely:
а) if it discredits the conventional and national norms of morality;
b) if it contains insulting phrases, comparisons and images with regard to the race, nationality, profession or social background, age group or sex, language, religious or other beliefs;
c) if it directly or indirectly discredits state symbols (emblem, flag, hymn, currency notes, etc) or expresses disrespectful attitude towards them;
d) if it discredits legal or physical entities, as well as the industrial, commercial or other activities, profession, assortment, etc.
Article 9. Advertising in electronic media
1. It is banned to use more than one advertising pause (break) in radio programs of less than 10 minutes and TV programs of less than 20 minutes.
2. It is banned to broadcast advertisements during a TV or radio program more often than after every 20 minutes. The duration of advertisements shouldn't be more than 10 minutes on the expectation of each broadcasting hour.
3. An advertising break during broadcasting of official information is banned.
4. The regularity of social advertising, broadcast through electronic media, is not restricted, but the duration of each program should be no more than 5 minutes during one hour of broadcasting.
5. The provisions of this article are not valid if a TV or radio program is an advertisement itself or if the advertisement is broadcast through an advertising channel.
Article 10. Advertising in print media
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In print media the volume and the subject of
advertising is defined in an order stipulated by their charter.
Print media, distributed through subscription, are obliged to
notify their subscribers of the limits of advertising, placed in
one issue, and of possible changes (without the additional
advertising space).
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Print media publish the advertising rates for
a space unit (considering the replacement, urgency and other
data) and all the changes no later than 20 days before the
application.
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The calculation of advertising space is
carried out through the units of metric system of measuring or
with the help of typographic signs.
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The provisions of this article are not valid,
if print media have an exclusive advertising format.
Article 11. External advertising
External advertisements are placed in populated areas in the form of posters, bills, announcements, stands, illuminated panels and other technical means.
The volume, the quantity and the placement order of external advertising are defined by the local governmental body.
If an advertisement is located on an object or in a territory, subordinate or belonging to the local governmental body, then the order and the amount of the charge are defined by the local governmental bodies, and the control is carried out by them as well. The fee is contributed to the local budget.
It is banned to locate advertisements in museums, inside historical and architectural monuments, as well as in the buildings of state and local governmental bodies and on their territories.
Article 12. Transport advertising
Advertisements are located on means of transportation with the consent of their owners.
For the reasons of traffic security the government of the Republic of Armenia makes restrictions concerning the placement of separate advertisements on means of transportation.
Article 13. Social advertising
- An advertisement transmitter is obliged to grant no less than
5 percent of its annual advertising time (print space) to
non-commercial advertising of national interest on health
matters, environment protection, and social security.
- Orders for placing social advertisements can be made by
ministries, government departments, territorial and local
governmental bodies of the Republic of Armenia, as well as by
non-governmental organizations.
- The advertiser covers the production and placement expenses of
social advertisements.
Article 14. Protection of persons under legal age upon production, allocation and dissemination of advertising
An advertisement is banned:
a) if the credulity and lack of experience of persons under legal age is being used;
b) if it contains audiovisual fragments, causing moral or physical harm to persons under legal age;
c) if the prestige of the parents and teachers, as well as the trust in them are undermined.
It is banned to place advertisements of alcoholic drinks and tobacco in radio and TV programs for children and teenagers, in print media targeting persons under legal age, as well as in children's, educational, medical, cultural, sports organizations, institutions and on their territories.
It is banned to use in advertisements the audiovisual or other images of persons under legal age, if they are not related to merchandise stipulated for persons under legal age.
Article 15. Particular features of advertising separate types of merchandise
While advertising alcoholic drinks and tobacco, it is banned:
a) to suggest that alcohol and tobacco have healing, stimulating, soothing and relaxing characteristics;
b) to motivate the consumers to a wide use of alcohol and tobacco, to express a negative attitude towards not consuming those products or consuming them moderately;
c) to represent the high degree of alcohol in drinks and the high degree of nicotine in tobacco as a positive characteristic.
It is banned to advertise tobacco if the advertisement doesn't contain a warning information on damages caused by smoking.
While advertising alcoholic drinks and tobacco, it is banned to address directly to persons under legal age.
While advertising alcoholic drinks and tobacco, it is banned to demonstrate how those products are consumed.
It is banned to advertise alcoholic drinks and tobacco through electronic media from 7 to 21.
It is banned to advertise medications, medical equipment and methods of medical treatment without the permission of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia.
It is banned to advertise narcotics, toxic and powerful medications.
It is banned to advertise medications, medical equipment and methods of medical treatment if a special medical prescription is needed for using those products.
This list is confirmed by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
Article 16. Advertising of financial, insurance, investment services, securities
It is banned to advertise institutions carrying out banking, insurance and other financial-credit and fiscal operations, including security operations and services, if at the moment of ordering the advertisement and at the period of its publication the subject of the advertisement hasn't obtained a license, in an order stipulated by the law.
While advertising the above-mentioned services, it is banned:
a) to guarantee, forecast or promise that the future activities will be effective (guaranteed), as well as to make declarations on the increase of the market value of the securities;
b) to put quantitative information, if it doesn't directly concern the advertised institutions, their services and securities;
c) to place in an advertisement of ordinary stocks some information on their market values or the guarantee of their dividends.
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