Czech Republic

This page contains information on statutory alcohol marketing
regulations in the Czech Republic (table 1); a description of the
restrictions per medium (table 2); labelling information (table 3); information on non-statutory alcohol marketing regulations the complaints procedure (table 4);
the complaints procedure; and lastly a summary about the Czech regulations on alcohol marketing, including exhaustive, downloadable documents from the ELSA & FASE research projects.

Updated 27-04-2021

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Complaints procedure

Act No. 40/1995 Coll., on the Regulation of Advertisement, statutory:
Complaints can be made to:
– The Czech Advertising Standards Council
– The Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting
– Regional trade licence offices

The possibility of complaining is made known to the public by the Media.

Sanctions, where appropriate, are imposed by:
– The Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (GOV)
– Regional trade licence offices.

Sanctions can be a fine of €70.000 – €300.000. The results of procedures are publicly announced by a press announcement. The minimum and maximum amount of time the procedure officially takes is usually 30 days, occasionally longer.

Act. No. 231/2001 Coll., on TV and Radio Broadcasting, statutory:
Complaints can be made to:
– The Czech Advertising Standards Council (http://www.rpr.cz/cz/en.php).
– The Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (http://www.rpr.cz/cz/en.php).

The possibility of complaining is announced by the Media. Sanctions, where appropriate, are imposed by the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (GOV) and can be a fine with a range between €70.000 – €300.000. The results of procedures are publicly announced by a press announcement. The minimum and maximum amount of time the procedure officially takes is usually 30 days, occasionally longer.

Act on Protection against harm done by addictive substances, statutory:
Complaints can be made to the police. During a procedure a marketing practice can still be used. The possibility of complaining about the ill enforcement of the law is a standard procedure within the Czech legalitive system. This is defined by the Collections of law of the Czech Republic. Sanctions, where appropriate, are imposed by police officials or the relevant court and can be a fine up to € 100 or up to one year imprisonment. The minimum and maximum amount of time the procedure officially may range from instant (a fine issued by a police officer) up to years (judicial process).

Code of Advertising practice, non-statutory:
Complaints can be made to the Czech Advertising Standards Council (more information can be found at http://www.rpr.cz), the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (more information can be found at http://www.rrtv.cz/en/). During a procedure a marketing practice can still be used. The possibility of complaining is announced through the media. Sanctions, where appropriate, are imposed by the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (GOV) and can be a fine of €70.000 – €300.000. The results of procedures are publicly announced by a press announcement. The minimum and maximum amount of time the procedure officially takes is usually 30 days, exceptionally even longer.

Click here to show more detailed information about the alcohol marketing regulations in this country>>

In the Czech Republic, five different regulation mechanisms exist, which relate to the advertising and marketing of alcoholic beverages. Three of them are statutory – Act No. 40/1995 Coll., on the Regulation of Advertisement, Act No. 231/2001 Coll., on TV and Radio Broadcasting and Act No. 37/1989 Coll., on the Protection against Alcoholism and other Toxicomanias, the remaining two are non-statutory Self-regulations: Code of Practice of the Association of Alcohol Producers and Code of Advertising Practice of the Czech Advertising Standards Council.

To understand the situation in the Czech Republic, it is necessary to mention, that before 1989 there were no privately owned companies in the CR; the sole owner of all business organizations was the state. Advertising and product marketing were quite insignificant, only of secondary nature. After the political changes in 1989, a lavish boom of advertising and promotional activities took place, in principle without any restrictions. The free market and strongly expanding availability of alcoholic beverages together with their massive and aggressive advertisement and promotion led to the increase in alcohol consumption especially among adolescents.

Regulations related to alcohol were not particularly strong in the CR. However, after the Czech Republic joined the European Union, they were harmonised with EU legislation. Nevertheless, provisions regulating advertisement and promotion of alcohol remain unsatisfactory.

Non-statutory codes declare in principle the intention of alcohol producers and the advertising industry to voluntarily follow the policy to not target children and youth. However, taking into account the fact that Czech football Extra-league officially bears the name “Gambrinus” (popular beer brand), it is obvious that this official declaration of intentions may not always translate into serious actions.

The following document contains an in depth overview of alcohol marketing regulations in the Czech Republic: alcohol-marketing-regulations_czech_republic.pdf

For even more (but older) information on alcohol marketing regulations in the Czech Republic, please take a look at the Czech Republic’s appendix to the 2007 ELSA (Enforcement of national Laws and Self-regulation on advertising and marketing of Alcohol) report.

Table 1	Statutory Alcohol marketing regulations in Czech Republic	Coverage
	Act No. 40/1995 Coll., on Advertising Regulation and on Amendments to Act No. 468/1991 Coll., on Operating Radio and Television Broadcasting, as amended	TV, radio, cinema, internet/digital media, outdoor, print
	Act No. 231/2001 Coll., on Operating Radio and Television Broadcasting and on changes to other laws, as amended	TV, radio
	Act No. 132/2010 Coll. on Audiovisual Media Services on Demand and on changes to other laws, as amended	Act that implements the AVMSD: Audiovisual commercial communications for alcoholic beverages shall not be aimed at minors and may not encourage immoderate consumption of such beverages. New Directive (EU) 2018/1808 has not been implemented yet.
	Act No. 65/2017 Coll. On the protection of health from the harmful effects of addictive substances	Accessibility of alcoholic beverages (types of points of sales, ban of sale to minors etc.)
	Regulation (EC) No. 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 on the definition, description, presentation, labelling and the protection of geographical indications of spirit drinks and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1576/89. Regulation (EU) 2019/787 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the definition, description, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks, the use of the names of spirit drinks in the presentation and labelling of other foodstuffs, the protection of geographical indications for spirit drinks, the use of ethyl alcohol and distillates of agricultural origin in alcoholic beverages, and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 110/2008.	Spirit drinks definitions and labelling requirements. Rules for the geographical indications.
	Implementing Decree No. 248/2018 Coll. on the requirements for beverages, brewed vinegar and yeast.	Definitions for beer and other alcoholic beverages.

Table 2 Statutory regulations per medium	Type of statutory restrictions
TV	Advertising for alcoholic beverages must not: a) encourage abusive use of alcoholic beverages or negatively or ironically evaluate abstinence or restraint; b) be aimed at persons under the age of 18, in particular those persons who, under the age of 18, may not appear on consumption of alcoholic beverages or use elements, means or actions addressed by persons under 18 c) combine alcohol consumption with increased performance, or be used in connection with driving d) create the impression that alcohol consumption contributes to social or sexual success, e) claim that alcohol in a beverage has therapeutic properties or a stimulating or soothing effect, or that it is a means of addressing personal problems, f) emphasize the alcohol content as a positive characteristic of the drink.
	Subliminal messaging prohibited
	Content restrictions in relation to driving, hazardous activity and health aspects
Radio	Same regulations as for TV
Outdoor marketing	Same regulations as for TV
Printed media	Same regulations as for TV
Cinema	Same regulations as for TV
Internet/digital media	Same regulations as for TV
Promotional items	Same regulations as for TV
(Sports) sponsorship	Same regulations as for TV

Table 3 Labelling information	Description	Legally binding or self-regulation
General information about labeling	In the Czech Republic the list of ingredients for beer, wine and spirits and other alcoholic beverages is obligatory according to the Law No. 110/1997 Coll. (on food and tobacco products and on a change and completion of some related laws). Labelling of calories is not obligatory as well as other nutritional information according to the Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers.
Health warnings:	No
Ingredients>	Yes
nutritional information	No

Table 4 Non-statutory Alcohol marketing regulations in the Czech Republic	Coverage
The Code of Advertising practice	TV, radio, cinema, sponsoring, internet/digital media, outdoor, print
Rules for creating advertisement signed by the Union of Spirits Producers and Suppliers, Czech Breweries and Malt Association and Wine Association in August 2020 (https://www.uvdl.cz/cs_cz/eticka-pravidla/).	TV, radio, cinema, sponsoring, internet/digital media, outdoor, print
Brewery Ethical Code (Czech Breweries and Malt Association).	TV, radio, cinema, sponsoring, internet/digital media, outdoor, print
Union of Spirits Producers and Suppliers of the Czech Republic has its own “Code of Ethics for responsible consumption of alcoholic beverages” and also operates a platform “FORUM – drink wisely”.	TV, radio, cinema, sponsoring, internet/digital media, outdoor, print
Youth protection policy (Self-regulation Code of Advertising practice): advertising for alcoholic beverages, including beer: must not be aimed at persons under 18 years of age (article 3.1) must not be broadcasted before, during, or immediately after TV and radio shows for children (article 3.2); *must not promote alcoholic beverages in media, radio and TV programmes or during events where more than 30 percent of the target audience is known to be minors (article 3.3)