OREANDA-NEWS. May 31, 2013. The 10th session of the Advertising Steering Council at the Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy (ICAP) took place on 24th May 2013 in Lvov (Ukraine).

Participants were welcomed by the Chairman of the Steering Council, Deputy Head of FAS, Andrey Kashevarov; the Head of the Secretariat of the Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy, Azam Usmanov; and Deputy Council Chairman, Sergey Pilatov.

Representatives of nine antimonopoly bodies and representatives of the advertising communities of the CIS states took part in the session of the Steering Council.

Participants heard a report that on 15th March 2013 at its 57th session the CIS Economic Council approved the Review of Efforts in Advertising in the CIS Member-States”, adopted by the Steering Council at the previous session.

The Review outlines the trends in advertising industry in the CIS states and gives recommendations towards approximating advertising law and enforcement practice to efficiently suppress violations on the advertising market.

The Council paid special attention to the draft standards for restricting advertising of medicines and dietary supplements. After a discussion, the Steering Council approved the Recommendations on the requirements for advertising medicines (drugs), medical products, medical equipment, medical services, methods of treatment and dietary supplements in the CIS member-states.

Participants also discussed the issues of the most interest for the representatives of the CIS countries: advertising of securities, loans and other financial services, the practice of the CIS states for evaluating advertisements (expert examination, studies) and involvement of self-regulating bodies in advertising evaluation.

In the second part of the session, members of the Steering Council were engaged in an active dialogue regarding enforcement practice on compliance with the advertising law in the CIS.

Summing up the discussions of the whole range of the raised issues, the Council Chairman, Deputy Head of FAS, Andrey Kashevarov pointed out: “The efforts of the Steering Council show the necessity to elaborate practical measures not only in enforcement but also in norm-setting in order to harmonize approaches to advertising in the CIS. We will work on advancing Council activities in this area”.

Reference:

The Steering Council on Advertising at the Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy (ICAP) was formed in September 2004 to coordinate activities of the CIS states towards implementing the Agreement on Cooperation between the Member-States of the Commonwealth of Independent States on regulating advertising of 19th December 2003.

On 17th May 2004, at the ХIХ session in Kiev the Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy (ICAP) approved the Regulations on the Steering Council, which held its first session in Alma Aty already on 30th September 2004.