Slovak Republic

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

Show more about the complaints procedure in this country>>

Complaints procedure

Advertising Act, statutory:
The possibility of complaining is made known to the public on the website of the State veterinary and food administration of the Slovak Republic of the Slovak Republic. It is not a special procedure. The complaints are regulated by the general Act on complaints and this procedure is common to most of the state administration. Sanctions, where appropriate, are imposed by State veterinary and food administration and can be a fine up to ca €50.000 or prohibition of dissemination of advertising. The results of procedures are publicly announced according to the Advertising Act. The decision of the supervisory authority can entail the obligation to (partly) publish the decision about prohibition of advertising propagation or to publish the corrective statement in mass communication media. The fine can be imposed within the period of one year from the date when the supervisory authority found out about breaking of the law, but not later than three years from the date of breaking this law. The minimum amount of time is limited by the procedural rights of the subject against which the complaint was aimed.

Act on Broadcasting and Retransmission, statutory:
Complaints can be made to the Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission of the Slovak republic. During a procedure, a marketing practice can still be used. The possibility of complaining is not a special procedure. The complaints are regulated by the general Act on complaints and this procedure is common to most of the state administration. Sanctions, where appropriate, are imposed by Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission of the Slovak Republic and can be a fine from €250 to €125.000, a warning on law infringement, broadcasting of an announcement about the law infringement or suspension of the broadcasting of the programme. The results of procedures are publicly announced on the website of the Council and by announcement to the press. The minimum and maximum amount of time the procedure officially takes is maximum 6 months.

Ethical principles of advertising practice, non-statutory:
Complaints can be made to the Slovak Advertising Standards Council. During a procedure a marketing practice can still be used. The possibility of complaining is announced on the website of the Slovak Advertising Standards Council. The results are published on the website of the Slovak Advertising Standards Council and are available for the press.

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

In the Slovak Republic there are no specific regulations regarding alcohol marketing and advertising, but there are three different regulations which include regulations on alcohol marketing and advertising:

The Advertising Act (statutory)
The Act on Broadcasting and Retransmission (statutory)
Ethical Principles on Advertising Practice Valid in the Slovak Republic (self-regulation)

The statutory Advertising Act that is valid since 2001 replaced a previous act from 1996. This new act introduced a legal definition of comparative advertisement and specified the definition of misleading advertisement in to harmonize it with EU regulations. Alcohol advertising in this act is more liberal – it allows advertisement of alcoholic beverages but states several conditions regarding restrictions concerning minors and forbids alcoholic beverage advertising to suggest that consumption of alcohol has a positive effect to physical and mental performance. The search for violations and complaints can be performed by the State Veterinary and Food Administration which is also responsible for sanctions and can entail obligation to publish this decision in mass communication media. The statutory Act on Broadcasting and Retransmission regulates advertising practice in broadcasting (TV, radio – advertising, teleshopping, sponsoring etc.). Alcohol marketing and advertising is also limited by this Act regarding minors and giving the impression that alcohol consumption contributes to social and sexual success. The complaint and sanctioning system is carried out by supervisory authority Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission of the Slovak Republic Administration.

Basically, the advertising sector is in the Slovak legislation adapted to the extend that regulations of the advertising in radio and TV broadcasting are in the Act No. 308/2000 Coll. on Broadcasting and Retransmission and other kinds of advertising amended by Act No. 147/2001 Coll. on Advertising. One exception is an adaptation of the comparative advertising sector which is included in the Act on Advertising, but is applicable also for the radio and TV broadcasting sector. The non-statutory “Ethical Principles on Advertising Practice Valid in the Slovak Republic” were designed and adopted by the Slovak Advertising Standards Council in 2004. This ethical code in the area of alcohol advertisement regulates the depiction of minors in advertisements; violence and restricts alcoholic beverage advertisement in media designed for youth. The Slovak Advertising Standards Council provides pre-launch advice, receives complaints and publishes results publicly.

The Slovak national Action plan on the problem with alcohol 2013 – 2020: The area of alcohol advertising is generally regulated by Act No. 147/2001 on advertising as amended. Having realised the media influence, the Slovak Republic has currently ensured stricter regulation of advertising of alcoholic beverages in broadcasting of electronic media pursuant to Act No. 308/2000 Coll. on Broadcasting and Retransmission and on amendments of Act No. 195/2000 Coll. on telecommunication, as amended by later regulations. Click here for the Action plan.

Table 1	Statutory Alcohol marketing regulations in the Slovak Republic	Coverage
	Zákon o reklame a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov 147/2001 (Advertising Act)	Advertising of alcoholic beverages: spirits/liquors, wine, beer and other beverages which contains more than 0,75% Alcohol by Volume
	498/2009 Z.z. ZÁKON, ktorým sa mení a dopĺňa zákon č. 308/2000 Z.z. o vysielaní a retransmisii a o zmene zákona č. 195/2000 Z.z. o telekomunikáciách v znení neskorších predpisov a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov (Act on Broadcasting and retransmission)	Broadcasting (tv, radio: advertising, teleshoping, sponsoring etc.) in relation to all alcoholic beverages. This Act implements the AVMSD.

Table 2 Statutory regulations per medium	Type of statutory restrictions
TV	Content restrictions (§5 (1) Advertising Act)
	Content restrictions: An on-demand audiovisual media service, a programme service and the elements thereof shall not explicitly or implicitly promote alcoholism or trivialize the consequences of alcohol use (Section 19 Act on Broadcasting and retransmission)
	Content restrictions: A spot for a programme in a television programme service shall not include excerpts from works depicting scenes of .. or images, which could give the impression of implicitly promoting alcoholism.. (Section 19 (2) Act on Broadcasting and retransmission)
	Content restrictions: media commercial communications shall not encourage immoderate consumption of alcoholic beverages (Section 31a Act on Broadcasting and retransmission)
	The broadcasting of advertising and teleshopping for alcoholic beverages except beer and wine shall be prohibited between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. The broadcasting of advertising and teleshopping for wine shall be prohibited between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.”. (Section 33 (1) Act on Broadcasting and retransmission)
	Youth protection (§5 (2) Advertising Act; Section 31a Act on Broadcasting and retransmission)
Radio	Content restrictions (§5 (1) Advertising Act)
	Content restrictions: An on-demand audiovisual media service, a programme service and the elements thereof shall not explicitly or implicitly promote alcoholism or trivialize the consequences of alcohol use (Section 19 Act on Broadcasting and retransmission)
	Content restrictions: media commercial communications shall not encourage immoderate consumption of alcoholic beverages (Section 31a Act on Broadcasting and retransmission)
	The broadcasting of advertising and teleshopping for alcoholic beverages except beer
	Youth protection (§5 (2) Advertising Act; Section 31a Act on Broadcasting and retransmission)
Outdoor marketing	To be updated
Printed media	To be updated
Cinema	To be updated
Internet/digital media	To be updated
Promotional items	To be updated
(Sports) sponsorship	Content restrictions (Section 19 Act on Broadcasting and retransmission)
(Sports) sponsorship	Youth protection (Section 31a Act on Broadcasting and retransmission)

Table 3 Labelling information	Description	Legally binding or self-regulation
Health warnings:	No
Ingredients/nutritional information	Potravinový kódex - Tretia časť 25. hlava - Nápoje (Food Codex regulating labelling of beer (alcohol volume, sugar content, energy information, protein info, fenylalanin info))	Self-regulation

Table 4 Non-statutory Alcohol marketing regulations in the Slovak Republic	Coverage
Ethical principles of advertising practice by the Slovak Advertising Standards Council (Chapter 3 Advertising of alcohol beverages)	Advertisement promoting any specific alcoholic beverage, as well as an advertisement containing a general presentation of alcoholic beverages, use of alcohol or any other claim or the consumption of alcoholic beverages (Article 27 Ethical principles of advertising practice)

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