Specify 3 main policy contents
Continuing the 8th Session, on November 8, under the direction of Party Central Committee member, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh, the National Assembly listened to the presentation and examination report of the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Advertising.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung stated that, inheriting the provisions on the scope of regulation in the 2012 Advertising Law, the draft Law stipulates advertising activities; rights and obligations of organizations and individuals participating in advertising activities; and State management of advertising activities.
The Law also amends and supplements a number of regulations on the management of advertising content and conditions; management of advertising activities on the network environment, cross-border advertising services and advertising in the press; and outdoor advertising activities.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said that the scope of amendments and supplements to the draft law closely followed the purpose, guiding viewpoints and specified the content of the three policies in the proposal to build the Law by amending and supplementing the provisions of the 2012 Law on Advertising.
These policies include: Completing regulations on advertising content and forms to suit the diverse development of advertising activities; completing regulations on managing advertising activities in the press, online environment and cross-border advertising services; completing regulations on outdoor advertising activities.
Increase advertising space in newspapers and magazines
Examining the draft law, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education Nguyen Dac Vinh said that the Committee agreed with the necessity of amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2012 Advertising Law; basically agreed with the scope of amending and supplementing the Law.
Regarding advertising in print, Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh said that there are currently 3 opinions. In which, the first opinion agrees with the Drafting Committee to adjust the advertising area in newspapers and magazines.
The second opinion suggests keeping the current regulations because increasing the area to nearly half of the total area is too large for a press publication, not really reasonable and suitable for the function of our country's press as well as ensuring the rights of readers.
Third opinion, research the option of removing the regulation on advertising area ratio in traditional newspapers and magazines and let press agencies decide on advertising area according to readers' needs and market regulation.
The Committee for Culture, Education and Training agrees with the view of increasing advertising space in newspapers and magazines to help press agencies increase revenue and better implement the financial autonomy mechanism.
“However, to protect the interests of readers, it is recommended that the drafting agency study and adjust in the direction of specific regulations on the ratio of area and advertising position for each type of newspaper and magazine publication,” Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh noted.
There are two types of opinions on advertising time on pay TV channels. The first type of opinion suggests assessing the policy impact to clarify the basis to increase the persuasiveness of the amendment to increase advertising space on pay TV channels from 5% to 10%.
The second type of opinion suggests keeping the current regulation on advertising time on pay TV channels at 5% because in reality viewers have to pay for watching pay TV.
According to Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh, the majority of members of the Committee for Culture and Education agreed with the first opinion.
Regarding advertising on feature films, the Committee for Culture, Education and Sports basically agrees with the amendment and supplement in the direction of increasing the advertising duration. However, it is recommended to continue reviewing and ensuring the number of advertising breaks in feature film programs is reasonable to protect the interests of the audience.
Regarding regulations on online advertising, the Committee for Culture, Education and Training agrees with the addition of specific regulations on online advertising and at the same time, suggests clarifying that the addition of regulations on online advertising needs to be compared and reviewed with specialized laws, ensuring the consistency of the legal system.
The review agency agrees with the amendment of the waiting time to turn off or on online advertising to suit the reality as well as the development trend of advertising in the world. However, the adjustment of 4 times, from 1.5 seconds to 6 seconds, needs to be assessed for impact and explained carefully to ensure objectivity and persuasion. The draft law does not yet regulate advertising containing links to personal information pages, applications on mobile devices, and other electronic devices. Therefore, the review agency recommends that appropriate regulations be studied.
