Law on advertising: a complete “no” for bad. How to bypass prohibitions when placing contextual advertising “We are not a bank, but we give...”

"Pharmaceutical Review", 2006, N 7-8

LAW ON ADVERTISING: A COMPLETE "NO" FOR dietary supplements

Summer is a traditional period of calm on the pharmaceutical market. However, this year, at least for manufacturers of dietary supplements, their holidays were seriously spoiled. On July 1, 2006, amendments to the Law “On Advertising” came into force. If earlier advertising of supplements was shocking with its permissiveness, then from now on manufacturers of dietary supplements will have to think ten times before starting to advertise their products.

The restrictions introduced into the Law “On Advertising” are quite strict, even the officials themselves admit this. However, they do not hide their joy - too many various complaints related to dietary supplements have already accumulated. The main provision of the article on dietary supplements now prohibits the advertising of supplements as medicines. This was announced by the head of the department for control and supervision of compliance with advertising legislation of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia, Irina Vasilenkova, during a round table with the participation of representatives of the pharmaceutical and advertising market and companies producing dietary supplements. Moreover, one cannot even create the impression of the medicinal properties and therapeutic effect of dietary supplements. The most annoying thing for reputable supplement manufacturers is that they will not be able to refer to the results of their clinical and laboratory studies. No matter how good the results are, no matter how reputable the doctor conducts the research, you cannot talk about this in advertising. Let us note, by the way, that by law it is not necessary to conduct clinical trials of dietary supplements. Companies do this of their own free will and spend a lot of money on it, but their efforts will only be rewarded with a meager phrase that the tests were carried out. Everything else in advertising is taboo.

Moreover, it is again impossible to talk about the well-known properties of natural components of dietary supplements. For example, the phrase: “The dietary supplement contains blueberries, which have a good effect on vision,” will be considered a violation of the Law “On Advertising.” Let us remind you that now any advertisement of a drug or dietary supplement, as well as medical equipment or medical services, must contain a warning that the patient must read the instructions before use, consult a doctor for advice, or must list contraindications to the advertised drug. You must select one of the proposed forms of warning.

With medications, everything is somehow simpler. Their advertising was seriously limited in the old version of the law, so the new one did not bring much change. When asked about the fate of Internet sites of manufacturing companies, online pharmacies and online reference publications, Irina Vasilenkova replied that the difference between the concepts of “advertising” and “information” must be respected. Advertising is aimed at attracting attention and interest. Information about drugs can be published on the Internet, for example, in the form of a drug directory. That is, information about all drugs on the site should be given equally.

According to Irina Vasilenkova, the provisions of this law are aimed at eradicating self-medication. “People must understand that only doctors can provide treatment, and for this they need to go to medical centers, and not replace medications with dietary supplements, trusting newspaper and television advertising.” However, those present had the impression that the FAS itself still does not really know how its employees should act in a given situation. After all, there are no precedents yet. There is no law enforcement practice. But there are many borderline points in the law. Moreover, there can be many ambiguous assessments of the same advertisement. But Irina Vasilenkova solemnly promised to carefully examine each specific case and, if necessary, involve third-party specialists in this matter. She also warned that “the amount of fines in case of detection of facts of advertising of dietary supplements prohibited by the new law, as well as medicines, medical products and medical services from July 1, 2006, will range from 40 to 500 thousand rubles for legal entities.”

But there is still a way out for dietary supplement manufacturers. Even three. Register your dietary supplement as a drug. Or:

Feel free to publish the entire instructions for using dietary supplements. And there is more than enough information there.

Use the experience of Germany. There, in advertising of dietary supplements, it is permissible to give the following definitions: “Supplements nutrition”, “For health”, “To cover daily requirements”. Similar phrases can be used in our country. The main thing is that all information is within the scope of the properties that were recorded during registration.

Time will tell how effective the new law “On Advertising” will be. But today it is clear that instead of legislatively restricting the production and distribution of dietary supplements, the government has limited their advertising. However, this does not guarantee that there will be fewer low-quality dietary supplements on the market that do not meet the stated properties. Not at all. Because, as always, we are trying to treat the disease, and not eradicate its cause.

S.GRACHEVA

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Aori Photos

Advertising in the context of alcohol, electronic cigarettes or services for the production of custom diplomas - vigilant sites will not miss this under any “sauce”. However, there are situations when your services are completely legal, i.e. Indeed, they are not prohibited from advertising, and are in demand, but their advertising is associated with a number of restrictions from advertising moderators.

General Director of Aori, an online advertising management system (brand “Blondinki.Ru”), Tatyana Kostenkova talks about ways to “disguise” in contextual ads.

“We are not a bank, but we give...”

Car dealers often face a problem when ads on Yandex that touch on the topic of providing a loan when buying a car are not moderated. Naturally, dealers provide such a service in partnership with a bank(s), and the sale of cars and the provision of financial services in this case belong to different areas of activity. However, for the site there is only one advertiser in such a situation (the dealer) and the message he broadcasts is entirely his responsibility (BEFORE placement, until the site has become an advertising distributor and is at the stage of reviewing materials).

If you want to mention phrases such as “loan”, “rate from 0%” and the like in your advertisements, then you will have to provide Yandex with a specially compiled and signed letter of guarantee confirming your legal right to provide financial services (providing that the most unfortunate loan).

In cases where, for one reason or another, providing such paper is extremely burdensome for you, you have two options: 1) do not mention the loan in advertisements at all, 2) mention the loan, but do not call it a loan. Yes, there are options for “disguising” a loan in contextual ads.

Examples:

“Special purchase conditions until the end of summer!”

“Get an advantage when purchasing a Ford before 02/31/14!”

“We will provide a Privilege when purchasing an SUV! Find out more details from your dealer N...”

In fact, if you do not mention the words “loan”, “down payment”, % and numbers, there is no reason to prevent you from posting. Fortunately, Google is more loyal in this regard, so veiling it under “special conditions” and “benefits” on Yandex can compensate for bold mentions of rates and other benefits while simultaneously posting on other sites.

It is enough to replaceiPhoneon iPhone

Among Google's other policies regarding advertising materials, one of the requirements relates to the right to use trademarks in ads. A trademark can be used in the ad text if the advertiser is either the copyright holder himself or has completed the Google authorization process by providing a form confirming the right to use the trademark.

It’s better not to take risks with medications and dietary supplements

Advertising of medicinal products, services and organizations has always required sensitivity. The matter is complicated by the existence of biologically active additives (dietary supplements), which are not classified as medicines and do not have a proven pronounced therapeutic effect (at least advertising cannot claim this), but the desire to advertise which requires the provision of no less licenses or certificates than for advertising medicines.

According to the FAS, one of the highest percentages of violations was recorded in advertising of dietary supplements, medicines and medical products - 12.57% of the total number of cases examined in 2012. This sector is only surpassed by violations in advertising of financial services (exactly what is discussed above) and misleading advertising (23.62 and 14.31% respectively).

More recently, dietary supplements were allowed to be advertised in context, without mentioning the names of diseases on the site itself, in keywords and ad texts, and without declaring guarantees of the positive effects of the supplement on the body. For example, it was impossible to mention “dysbacteriosis” in advertising of dietary supplements to combat it, but the sites were loyal to such alternative options as “Is your baby’s tummy swollen? Find out how to help your baby's intestines! Read..."

However, looking at the recently introduced amendments to the Law “On Advertising”, I would like to completely stop mentioning dietary supplements and medical services in vain. In particular, the current version contains obvious contradictions between parts 7 and 8 of Article 24. Part 7 allows advertising of medical services, citing a number of restrictions, and the following part 8 prohibits such advertising everywhere, except for specialized medical publications and professional events (exhibitions, conferences , seminars, etc.). But the restrictions formulated in Part 7 do not apply to such advertising. At the same time, the FAS itself does not clarify muchsituation.

We will find out in the near future how to proceed further in online advertising of drugs, dietary supplements and medical services: on January 21, the State Duma Committee on Health Protection held a meeting at which such controversial issues of innovation were to be considered.

This is not a complete list of the pitfalls of the context. But the most effective way to be sure to pass moderation to the point of banality is simple: be honest with your customers, selling them what they are interested in, accessible and legal methods - in the most logical places for this. Do not try to cover up a supposedly interesting promotion with tempting advertising wording. The user may, of course, first fall for your text and go to the site, but then leave it forever, also cursing in passing on occasion on one or another forum. You still have to pay per click.

Advertisements on this topic are not placed in the format smart banner.

Your ads and landing page must comply with all legal requirements. For example, advertising should not:

create the impression that dietary supplements are medicines and have medicinal properties;

encourage people to give up healthy eating;

present the results of studies as evidence of the therapeutic effect and benefits of dietary supplements, and also use the results of studies as a direct recommendation for use.

A warning will be automatically added to your text ads "Not a cure". The text of the warning does not depend on the content of a particular ad and cannot be changed. Image ads, video ads, and display campaign creatives must include this warning yourself.

Your ads must comply with the laws of the countries in which you want to advertise.

• Russia
• Belarus
• Kazakhstan
• Ukraine
• Other countries

When to send documents

What documents are needed

A copy of the certificate of state registration of a specific name of dietary supplement.

If you are advertising several dietary supplements, you must additionally provide a letter of guarantee confirming the availability of all the necessary documents. The letter must be formatted strictly in accordance with rules.

How and where to send documents

Send the original letter of guarantee to Yandex LLC (as well as a power of attorney to sign documents on behalf of the company, if you provided electronic copies of them) to the address: 119021, Moscow, st. Lev Tolstoy, 16. Specify as the addressee: Yandex LLC, Commercial Department.

Original letter of guarantee to the LLP "Yandex.Kazakhstan"(as well as powers of attorney to sign documents on behalf of the company, if you provided electronic copies of them) send to the address: 050010, Almaty, Dostyk Ave., 43. Specify as addressee: LLP "Yandex.Kazakhstan", Commercial department.

According to the law and Yandex policy, certain documents must be provided for placement.

When to send documents

Documents can be submitted at any time after posting advertisements for moderation. If the advertisements were rejected only due to the lack of necessary documents, then after receiving them all advertisements will be re-checked. If the verification is successful, your ads will be allowed to appear. If additional information is required, we will contact you.

What documents are needed

Adopted by the State Duma on July 3, 2013
Approved by the Federation Council on July 10, 2013

Article 1

Introduce into the Federal Law of March 13, 2006 N 38-FZ “On Advertising” (Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2006, N 12, Art. 1232; N 52, Art. 5497; 2007, N 7, Art. 839; N 16 , Art. 1828; 2009, N 51, Art. 6157; 2011, N 23, Art. 3255; N 29, Art. 4293; N 30, Art. 4566, 4600; 2013, N 19, Art. 2325) the following changes :

1) in paragraph 6 of part 5 of Article 5, the words “medical products and medical equipment” are replaced with the words “medical products”;

2) in article 24:

A) the name should be stated as follows:

B) in part 2 the words “medicines” should be replaced with the words “medicines”;

C) in part 4, the words “medical equipment” should be replaced with the words “medical products”;

D) in part 6 the words “medicines and medical equipment” should be replaced with the words “medicines and medical devices”;

E) in Part 7, the words “medicines” are replaced with the words “medicines”, the words “medical equipment” are replaced with the words “medical products”;

E) in Part 8, the words “medicines in forms and dosages dispensed according to medical prescriptions,” are replaced with the words “medicinal products in forms and dosages dispensed according to prescriptions for drugs,” and the words “medical products and medical equipment” are replaced with the words "medical products";

3) Article 25 shall be supplemented with part 1 1 as follows:

"1 1. Advertising of dietary supplements in each case must be accompanied by a warning that the object of advertising is not a medicine. In this advertisement distributed in radio programs, the duration of such a warning must be at least three seconds, in advertising distributed in television programs , for film and video services - no less than five seconds, and such a warning must be allocated no less than seven percent of the frame area, and in advertising distributed by other means - no less than ten percent of the advertising area (space).";

4) in Article 38:

A) in part 6 the words “Articles 28 - 30” should be replaced with the words “Articles 28 - 30 1”;

B) part 7 should be stated as follows:

"7. The advertising distributor is responsible for violation of the requirements established by clause 3 of part 4, clause 6 of part 5, parts 9, 10, 10 1 and 10 2 of article 5, articles 7 - 9, 12, 14 - 18, parts 2 - 4 and 9 of Article 19, parts 2 - 6 of Article 20, parts 2 - 5 of Article 21, parts 2 - 4 of Article 23, parts 7 - 9 and 11 of Article 24, Article 25, parts 1 - 5 of Article 26, parts 2 and 5 of Article 27 , parts 1, 4, 7, 8 and 11 of Article 28, parts 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8 of Article 29, parts 1 and 2 of Article 30 1 of this Federal Law."

Article 2

Introduce into Article 14.3 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2002, N 1, Art. 1; 2005, N 30, Art. 3124; 2007, N 26, Art. 3089; N 31, Art. 4007; 2010, No. 1, Art. 1) the following changes:

1) in the first paragraph of part 1, replace the words “parts 2 - 4” with the words “parts 2 - 5”;

2) add part 5 with the following content:

"5. Violation of the requirements established by the legislation on advertising for advertising of medicines, medical products and medical services, including methods of treatment, as well as dietary supplements -

Involves the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of two thousand to two thousand five hundred rubles; for officials - from ten thousand to twenty thousand rubles; for legal entities - from two hundred thousand to five hundred thousand rubles."

Article 3

This Federal Law comes into force ninety days after the day of its official publication.

President of Russian Federation
V. Putin