Controversial Discussions in the Parliament: MPs Discussed and Adopted in the First Reading the New Law on Advertising

On Thursday, 11 October, the Parliament adopted in the first reading the draft Law on Advertising, adapting the national legislation on advertising to the European standards. Plenary debates were contradictory – certain MPs proposed to exclude the document from the agenda, while others were skeptical that the draft will be able to address the issue of monopoly on the advertising market. Legal expert Eugeniu Ribca – coauthor of the draft law, answered to all MPs’ questions.

The Socialist MP Adrian Lebedinschi asked why the draft prohibits the advertising of religious objects in the media and outdoor advertising. Eugen Ribca said that such advertising could appear on the websites of all religious cults from the Republic of Moldova and that the prohibition referred to outdoor advertising and the media.
MP George Mocanu, member of the European People’s Group, was concerned about the donations made to promote politicians and political forces on social media and the media.  Eugen Ribca mentioned once again that the regulations in this regard could be in contradiction with the law on the freedom of expression. The MPs agreed that the issue requires a more complex approach, with the involvement of a larger number of experts.

Liberal Democrat MP Maria Ciobanu questioned whether the draft of the new Law on Advertising will manage to solve the issue of monopolies on the advertising market. Communist MP Oleg Reidman proposed to postpone the review of this draft and resume the discussions on this document within the specialised parliamentary committees.
The document’s information note states that the adoption and implementation of the new draft law will help to protect the national advertising market, promote the information space and the economic interests of the national media, representing an important contribution of the Government to media promotion under the conditions of a democratic state.

The draft law also provides for the establishment and implementation of the legal regime for political advertising during the extra-electoral period (which is not included in the current legislation), it sets forth who cannot be a provider of political advertising, as well as the fact that the payment for broadcasting political advertising can only be made by bank transfer.
After hearing the reports submitted by the parliamentary committees for mass-media and economy, budget and finance, the MPs approved, with a majority of votes, the draft Law on Advertising in the first reading.

Note that the document was developed within the Working Group on Improving Media Law and was registered as legislative initiative by Speaker Andrian Candu and MPs Vladimir Hotineanu and Corneliu Mihalache.