Polish government proposes additional statutory restrictions on food advertising to children

Responsible Advertising and Children Programme (www.responsible-advertising.org)

On 4 February, the Polish Ministry of Culture proposed some amendments to the Broadcasting Law, banning ‘unhealthy’ food advertising around children programmes under the age of 12. This is part of an early stage of public consultations.

The proposal, signed by Mr Karol Zgódka, Director of the IP and Media Department, includes three main provisions:

• The current law specifies that children programmes should not include commercial communications for food and beverage products containing nutrients that should be limited, nor should such communications take place before or after such programmes.
• The Ministry of Health will determine what constitutes ‘unhealthy foods’ in a separate implementing act.  Although not a representative of the MoH, Mr Zgódka acknowledged that a set of nutrition criteria already forms the basis of a self-regulatory advertising code recently adopted by major Polish broadcasters. Referring to the common EU Pledge nutrition criteria.
• The proposal suggests amending the definition of ‘programmes for children’ (art.4). The new definition would clearly specify that programmes for children are programmes that due to their content and time of broadcast are directed to children under 12. It is considered that children at that age may not be able to differentiate between advertising and editorial content.

It is important to note that the proposal does not address what “child content” is and who will decide that. WFA is following the matter closely together with Rada Reklamy, the local SRO.