- CHAPTER I GENERAL PROVISIONS
- CHAPTER II PRINCIPLES AND GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF ADVERTISING
- CHAPTER III REQUIREMENTS OF ADVERTISING, DISSEMINATED BYINDIVIDUAL MEANS OF TRANSMISSION
- CHAPTER IIIREQUIREMENTS OF ADVERTISING, DISSEMINATED BYINDIVIDUAL MEANS OF TRANSMISSION
- CHAPTER IV REQUIREMENTS OF ADVERTISING INDIVIDUAL GOODS AND PROVISION OF SERVICES
- CHAPTER V CONTROL OF ADVERTISING
- CHAPTER VI PROCEDURE OF APPLYING LIABILITY FOR VIOLATIONS OF LAW ON ADVERTISING
- CHAPTER VII FINAL PROVISIONS
REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW ON ADVERTISING
July 18, 2000. No. VIII-1871
Vilnius
(As last amended on 22 June 2010 – No. XI-923)
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. The purpose of this Law is to improve consumer information concerning goods and services, protect consumer interests, protect freedom of honest competition and create conditions for the development of advertising activity.
2. This Law shall establish the requirements of the use of advertising, liability of operators of advertising activity, and the legal basis for the control of advertising use in the Republic of Lithuania.
3. Given other Republic of Lithuania laws establish additional or other requirements in the use of advertising, or lay down the procedure for controlling the use of advertising or liability of operators of advertising activity, the provisions of those laws shall apply. Given the international agreements of the Republic of Lithuania, establish other requirements in the use of advertising, the provisions of those agreements shall prevail.
4. The provisions of this Law shall appropriately apply regarding intra-Community infringement as defined in Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 2004 on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws, when the provisions of Articles 5 and 6 of this Law are infringed.
5. The advertising self-regulatory institutions representing operators of advertising activity shall have the right to voluntarily regulate and control the advertising used by its own members, specifying the regulations that do not contradict the legal acts in force.
6. This Law shall not regulate political and social advertising and announcements that are not linked to economic commercial, financial or professional activities.
7. The provisions of this Law shall implement the legal acts of the European Union listed in the Annex to this Law.
1. Repealed
2. Economic behaviour means the decisions and actions of advertising consumers, in connection with acquiring goods or services, economic commercial and financial or professional activities.
3. Outdoor advertising means advertisement the special presentation means whereof (stands, billboards, columns, showcases, signboards, etc.) and the adapted presentation means whereof (building walls, roofs, temporary construction works, means of transport, hot air balloons, etc.) are not located inside the premises.
4. Misleading advertising means advertising which in any way, including its presentation, deceives or is likely to deceive the persons to whom it is addressed or whom it reaches and which, by reason of its deceptive nature, is likely to affect their economic behaviour or which, for those reasons, injures or is likely to harm another person’s capabilities in competition.
5. Comparative advertising means any advertising, which explicitly or by implication identifies a competitor of the advertiser and the goods or services offered by the competitor.
6. Surreptitious advertising means information disseminated in any form and through any communication medium about the producer or service provider, his name or activities, trade mark, presented in such a way that may confuse advertising consumers as to the actual purpose of presenting this advertising. Such presentation of information is considered as surreptitious advertising in all instances when it is paid or otherwise compensated for.
7. Advertising means the dissemination of information in any form or through any communication medium in connection with person’s economic commercial, financial or professional activities in order to promote the supply of goods or services, including immovable property acquisition, assumption of property rights and obligations.
8. Supplier of advertising means a person upon whose initiative and interests the advertisement is used (ordered, produced, disseminated).
9. Producer of advertising means a provider of advertising services who provides advertisement production services.
10. Use of advertising means activity, which includes ordering, production, mediation and dissemination of advertising.
11. Provider of advertising services means a national of the Republic of Lithuania or any other Member State of the European Union or any other country of the European Economic Area (hereinafter referred to as a “Member State”), any other natural person benefiting from the rights of movement within Member States conferred upon him by legal acts of the European Union, as well as a legal person established in the Republic of Lithuania or a legal person, any other organization or their branches established in any other Member State, a branch of a legal person or any other organization of a foreign state established in the Republic of Lithuania which provides services of a producer of advertising, a disseminator of advertising or/and a mediator of advertising.
12. Operator of advertising activity means a supplier of advertising, a provider of advertising services.
13. Institution of advertising self-regulation means an institution of voluntary self-regulation, established by operators of advertising activity, which is based upon legal acts regulating advertising activity, as well as upon its approved regulations (code).
14. Disseminator of advertising means a provider of advertising services who disseminates advertising by any means of information transmittal.
15. Mediator of advertising means a provider of advertising services who serves as an intermediary in ordering advertisement dissemination services or advertisement production and dissemination services.
15. Consumer of advertising means a person for whom the advertisement is intended or whom it can reach.
16. Trade mark means any sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of another person and capable of being represented graphically.
17. The concepts “commercial offer”, “commercial operator”, “transactional decision”, “consumer”, “average consumer” shall be used as they are defined in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Prohibition of Unfair Business-to-Consumer Commercial Practices.
CHAPTER II
PRINCIPLES AND GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF ADVERTISING
Article 3. Principles of Advertising
Advertising must be:
1) proper and accurate;
2) clearly recognisable.
1. The requirements of the Law On the State Language shall apply to the written and sound text of advertising.
2. Advertising shall be banned if it:
1) violates public and moral principles;
2) degrades human honour and dignity;
3) incites national, racial, religious, gender-related or social hatred and discrimination as well as defames or misinforms;
4) promotes force and aggression, gives rise to panic;
5) promotes behaviour which presents a threat to health, security and environment;
6) abuses superstitions, people’ s trust, and their lack of experience or information;
7) mentions the name and surname of a natural person without his permission, his opinion, information about his private or public life, property, are presented and his physical picture is used;
8) uses special subliminal measures and technologies in advertising dissemination;
9) uses advertising material which has been prepared in violation of authors’ rights in literature, art, science and (or) related rights;
1. Use of misleading advertising shall be banned.
2. When judging whether or not advertising is misleading, account shall be given to the accuracy, comprehensiveness and the following presentation criteria thereof:
1) claims presented in advertising are false, if the provider of advertising cannot substantiate accuracy of the assertion during the time of use. A decision regarding whether there are enough information substantiating accuracy of claims present in the advertising shall be based upon the consideration of an individual case. The evidence and recommendations by persons whose competence is not linked with the content of the information being submitted shall not be recognised as information substantiating the accuracy of claims being submitted;
2) the information supplied in the advertising is incomplete, if a certain part has been omitted the supplying whereof is, taking into account other information presented in this advertising, certainly needed in order to avoid misleading of the consumers of advertising. Information presented in an advertising shall also be regarded as incomplete, if the material information that an average consumer needs to take an informed transactional decision, is not disclosed, is hidden or provided in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner and this causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take such a transactional decision that he would not have taken otherwise. Where the medium used to convey an advertising imposes limitations of space or time, these limitations, peculiarities, circumstances of a concrete case, and any measures taken by the supplier of advertising to make the information available to consumers by other means shall be taken into account in deciding whether information has been omitted;
3) manner or form of supplying advertising are such that the consumer of advertising may perceive an understandable inaccurate (misleading) advertising claim.
3. If legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania establish that certain information must be presented in advertising, such information shall be regarded as material.
4. When a commercial offer is presented in advertising, the information defined in paragraph 3 of Article 6 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Prohibition of Unfair Business-to-Consumer Commercial Practices shall be regarded as material in the said advertising.
5. When judging whether an advertising is misleading, one must pay particular attention to the information contained therein regarding:
1) the supplier of the advertising or another person, their activities, head office, trade name (if he is a natural person – the name and surname of this person), legal status, assets, ownership of industrial or intellectual property rights, licences (permits), qualification, affiliation or connection, awards and distinctions;
2) goods or services, place or origin of manufacture, date of manufacture, method of manufacture, purpose, quantity, composition, energy value, risks, fitness for purpose, usage, testing time, place, method and evaluation, method of use, conformity with a set standard, certification, official recognition of the goods or services and awards at fairs, exhibitions;
3) conditions of acquisition and use of goods (services) that is, the price or the manner in which the price is calculated, the existence of a specific price advantage, terms of payment, delivery, reimbursement, guarantees, terms and need for replacement, repair, service;
4) the extent of the supplier's of advertising commitments, the motives for the economic commercial, financial or professional practice and the nature of the goods or services sales process, any statement or symbol in relation to direct or indirect sponsorship or approval of the supplier of advertising or the goods or services;
5) consumer’s rights, risks he may encounter and complaint handling.
6. Advertising shall in all circumstances be regarded as misleading if it contains the attributes of misleading commercial practice established in subparagraph 1-21 of Article 7 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Prohibition of Unfair Business-to-Consumer Commercial Practices.
7. When judging whether the advertising is misleading, it is regarded that consumers form an opinion regarding the accuracy of the claims presented in the advertising, comprehensiveness of the advertising, manner or form of presenting the advertising and adopt such decisions, which may be expected from an average consumer.
8. Where advertising is specifically aimed at a particular group of consumers of advertising, when judging whether the advertising is misleading, its impact shall be assessed from the perspective of the average member of that group.
1. Comparative advertising shall be permitted when the following conditions are met:
1) it is not misleading according to paragraph 4 of Article 2 and Article 5;
2) it compares goods or services meeting the same needs or intended for the same purpose;
3) it objectively compares one or more material, relevant, verifiable and representative features of those goods and services, which may include price;
4) it does not create confusion between commercial operators, between the supplier of advertising and a competitor or between the supplier’s of advertising trade marks, trade names, other distinguishing marks, goods or services and those of a competitor;
5) it does not discredit or denigrate the trade marks, trade names, other distinguishing marks, goods, services, activities, financial or any other status of a competitor;
6) for goods and services with designation of origin, it relates to the goods and services with the same designation;
7) it does not take unfair advantage of the reputation of a trade mark, trade name or other distinguishing marks of a competitor or of the designation of origin of competing goods or services;
8) it does not present goods or services as imitations or replicas of goods or services bearing a protected trade mark or trade name.
2. Should a specific offer be provided in the comparative advertising, the date of the validity cessation of the offer must be clearly indicated, and if necessary, it must be stated that this offer depends on the quantity of the goods on hand or possibilities of providing the services. Should the offer be not yet valid at the time of the publication of the advertising, the date of its coming into force must be indicated.
It shall be prohibited to cause moral and physical detrimental influence to children by:
1) exploiting children’s trust in parents, guardians (providers), teachers or other adults;
2) directly exhorting children to persuade their parents or other persons, to purchase the advertised goods or services, taking advantage of their inexperience and credulity;
3) forming children’s opinion linking consumption of certain goods or services with the enhancement of their physical, psychological or social advantages before the members of their peer group;
4) unreasonably showing children in situations which pose danger to their health and life.
Advertising must be clearly identifiable according to its form of presentation. Should there exist the likelihood that due to its form of presentation, the consumers of advertising may not recognise the advertisement disseminated in the public information media, such advertising must be marked with the word “Advertisement.” Surreptitious advertising shall be banned.
Advertising disseminated in any form and by any means of dissemination, shall be prohibited in cases when one seeks to advertise:
1) activity, which is prohibited by laws or is illegal;
2) goods or services, the production whereof and (or) sale (supply) are banned by laws.
CHAPTER III
REQUIREMENTS OF ADVERTISING, DISSEMINATED BY
INDIVIDUAL MEANS OF TRANSMISSION
This Law and the Law on Provision of Information to the Public shall set forth the requirements of advertising in television programmes.
Article 1. The Purpose and Application of the Law
Article 2. Basic Definitions of This Law
Article 4. Requirements of Advertising
Article 5. Misleading Advertising
Article 6. Comparative Advertising
Article 7. Advertising and Children
Article 8. Identifiable Advertising
Article 9. Advertising of Illegal or Prohibited by Law Activities or Services
Article 10. Advertising in Television Programmes