AUGUST 2025

The Association of Commercial Television (AKTV) brings together the most prominent commercial broadcasters in the Czech Republic. The Regulation on Political Advertising (2024/900) has a fundamental impact on our members, as they are an integral part of the advertising market. As such, the Regulation will apply to them in cases where political advertising is published. For this reason, we highly appreciate the initiative of the European Commission, which aims to issue guidance to support the proper application and compliance with the Regulation, among other things, by including practical examples of political advertising.

After carefully reviewing the published version of the guidance, we are of the opinion that it is necessary to further refine the text of the guidance in two key areas in order for them to truly meet the expectations placed upon them by the advertising market—namely, to facilitate the practical application of the Regulation. This objective can also be supported by the feedback the European Commission receives from stakeholders as part of this initiative, which is, after all, the aim of the EU’s consultation strategy.

We cannot overlook the fact that the Regulation itself has already sparked a wide range of reactions. For this reason, we attribute immense importance to the guidance, as it is likely to become a key framework for the proper implementation of the Regulation on Political Advertising in practice. It is also possible that various entities will decide based on the guidance whether or not to publish political advertising at all. In this context, and briefly for the sake of completeness, we draw attention to a recent announcement published by Meta on its social network (https://about.fb.com/news/2025/07/ending-political-electoral-and-social-issue-advertising-in-the-eu/), which specifically states: “From early October 2025, we will no longer allow political, electoral and social issue ads on our platforms in the EU. Despite extensive engagement with policymakers to share these concerns, we have been left with an impossible choice: alter our services to offer an advertising product which doesn’t work for advertisers or users, without guarantee that our solution would be viewed as compliant, or stop allowing political, electoral and social issue ads in the EU. We’re not the only company to have been forced into this position.”

The first part of the guidance that requires further attention and adjustment to meet the needs of practical application is the section addressing the very nature of political advertising. Clear criteria and examples of messages that are to be considered political advertising are exactly what the market primarily expects from the guidance. However, it is not acceptable for the guidance to expand the definition of political advertising. From the perspective of legislative instruments, the guidance is a tool intended to interpret the law within its boundaries—by its nature, it cannot go beyond the law. On the contrary, it is essential that the guidance is clear and comprehensible so it can serve as a helpful guide in interpreting the Regulation on Political Advertising. The primary goal of the guidance should be to clarify the definition of “political advertising” as set out in the Regulation, ensuring it is clear and unambiguous. Therefore, we present our recommendations below:

Specifically, we are concerned that even purely commercial messages with a societal dimension may be incorrectly classified as political advertising. Commercial advertising with ethical or value-based content must not be automatically considered political advertising. The ‘elements to be considered’ that are shown in Table 1 on pages 20 to 23 of the guidance contain various criteria intended to help identify when a particular case involves political advertising. However, these criteria are of a purely subjective nature and are also commonly found in commercial advertising. Therefore, they cannot be taken as definitive indicators that a message constitutes political advertising. We are convinced that only objective and enforceable criteria will help distinguish between political and societal advertising. Commercial advertising with ethical or value-based content must not be automatically treated as political.

Another part of the guidance that needs to be revised—as we have already mentioned above—is the section concerning obligations under the Regulation. Media outlets disseminating advertising naturally have no influence over the content of the advertisement or its original intent. We must therefore clearly object to any discriminatory shifting of responsibility for political advertising onto a single link in the advertising chain—namely, onto us as media houses—especially since Article 7(1) of the Regulation and Section 3.2.4 of the guidance require providers to verify whether an advertisement qualifies as political. This effectively demands that we, as mere disseminators, subjectively assess the nature of submitted advertising. Responsibility for political advertising must be shared across the entire advertising chain—each party should bear responsibility only for the part it can objectively control. All of this must be based on clearly defined criteria.

Conclusion

To briefly summarise our recommendations and the direction in which the guidance should be adjusted in Section 2 (What is political advertising?) and Section 3 (Obligations under the Regulation): As for the criteria used to determine whether an advertisement constitutes political advertising, there must be a clear and direct link to a political objective—that is, objective and enforceable criteria. This will provide legal certainty and reduce the risk of overregulation, a concern that has been frequently raised since the publication of the Draghi report. Regarding the objections raised to the obligations imposed on broadcasters—as an integral part of the advertising chain—it is absolutely essential that responsibility is distributed fairly and does not rest solely on us as broadcasters. Any other approach would undoubtedly have a significant impact on the sustainability of the entire media sector. We see the potential of the guidance in the fact that, if it meets the expectations placed on it by the advertising market, it could become a trigger for a reassessment of the currently hesitant attitudes toward the Regulation on Political Advertising.