Self-Regulation Principles
Set of rules and measures concerning alcohol advertisements agreed on 8 July 2020 by Czech Union of Breweries and Malthouses Czech Winemakers’ Association Czech Union of Spirits Producers and Importers.
Advertising forms an integral part of the business environment in the field of sale of spirits and the promotion of sale thereof. Being aware of their social responsibility, members of the Czech Union of Breweries and Malthouses, Czech Winemakers’ Association and the Czech Union of Spirits Producers and Importers (hereinafter jointly as the “Members”) voluntarily undertake to comply with these self-regulation principles, which stipulate the minimum requirements for the commissioning, creation and dissemination of advertising for alcoholic beverages in all types of media. These self-regulation principles stipulate only minimum requirements for advertising of alcoholic beverages, do not replace legal regulation of advertising following from generally binding legal regulations and do not prevent any Member from setting, or complying with, rules stricter than those contained in these self-regulation principles.
Persons under 18 years of age
a. Advertisements will never target minors under 18 years of age and will not be disseminated through media targeting mainly audience younger than 18 years of age.
b. Advertisements disseminated via the Internet and social networks will never target minors under 18 years of age, or be deliberately shown at websites or next to content typical for this group, or exploit the internet presence of third parties – e.g. celebrities and influencers the visitors of whose websites and consumers of whose content are primarily minors under 18 years of age.
c. Alcohol brands may only be promoted by influencers at least 70% of whose followers/fans on social networks are over 18 years of age during such co-operation.
d. Anyone entering the websites of the Members will always be required to confirm that they have reached the legal drinking age (that they are 18 or over).
e. Actors in audio-visual adverts must not be or look under 25.
f. Celebrities, brand ambassadors and influencers shall always be acquainted with these self-regulation principles and will be bound to comply with them to the full extent.
g. Advertisements will not use any graphic designs, symbols, music, cartoon characters or other objects and art forms associated with persons under 18 years of age.
h. It will not be possible to grant licences for the use of alcohol products, logos or brands on children’s apparel, toys, games or other products appealing primarily to persons under 18 years of age.
i. Sponsoring of programmes or events by the Members is permitted only where more than 70% of participants, listeners or viewers are expected to be over 18 years of age.
j. All advertising campaigns, competitions and prizes to be won and similar offers and events may be held only in places where more than 70% of the audience are expected to be over 18 years of age.
k. The Members will not allow legally showing alcohol brands on children’s size replica sportswear. Neither will they take other marketing offers to show alcohol names and logos on products primarily appealing to minors under 18 years of age.
l. The Members agree to set the profiles of their products on social networks so that the relevant social networks operators ensure that the contents of the advertisements are not displayed to persons under 18 years of age.
m. The Members agree to use the media (TV, radio, online) whose target groups contain at least 70% of people of 18+ years of age.
n. Starting from 1 July 2024 at the latest, the “18+” symbol will be present on the products packaging, pointing out that alcoholic beverages may not be sold to persons under 18 years of age, and, at the same time, informing such persons of the prohibition.
Antisocial behaviour
a. Advertising will not in any way associate alcohol consumption with extraordinary abilities.
b. Advertisements will not associate drinking with violent, aggressive or dangerous behaviour or antisocial conduct.
c. Alcohol consumption must not be associated with sexual success.
d. Advertisements will not claim that drinking can lead to social success or popularity.
Driving motor vehicles
a. Advertisements will not associate drinking with driving motor vehicles.
b. Advertising and promotion may not imply that drinking prior or during driving motor vehicles is acceptable.
Pregnant women
a. Advertisements may not encourage pregnant women to drink.
b. Starting from 1 July 2024 at the latest, the pregnancy logo will be present on the products packaging.
Abstinence
Advertisements will not present abstinence in a negative way or imply that non-drinking is wrong or abnormal.
Minorities
Advertisements will not claim or imply that some products are consumed by religious groups that forbid drinking or by certain ethnic or national groups.
Curative and therapeutic benefits
Advertisements will not present alcohol as a “cure”. Promotional materials will not imply or suggest that alcohol can provide preventive or therapeutic benefits.
Personal responsibility
a. Advertisements must inform all members of the public about personal responsibility in consuming alcohol. Consumers targeted by our advertisements decide for themselves whether they should drink or not, and if they decide to drink, they will be encouraged to do so responsibly.
b. Whenever possible, advertisements will contain references to the “Pij s rozumem” (Drink Sensibly) project, or to other similar project supporting prevention and responsible drinking.
Packaging
a. Product packaging will not contain any elements particularly attractive to people below 18 years of age. The labels will not include any sexual motives.
b. Starting from 1 July 2024 at the latest, the “18+” symbol and pregnancy logo will be included in the information on the products packaging.
Compliance Assessment
a. The compliance with the above self-regulation rules will be supervised by an independent body – the Advertising Standards Council (the “Council”). The aim of the Council is to ensure that the advertising in the territory of the Czech Republic is honest, legal, decent, truthful, and that it complies with the requirements of this self-regulation code.
b. The Members commissioning alcohol advertising for TV will apply the “Copy Advice” mechanism, i.e. submit draft advertisements for assessment to the Council, as an independent arbiter, before the preparation of the ad is initiated.
c. In assessing the script, the Council will assess compliance with the self-regulation principles as well as the generally binding legal regulations pertaining to advertising for alcoholic beverages. The Member must respect the Council’s conclusion concerning (non)compliance of the ad with the above. If the Council comes to the conclusion that the ad does not comply with the requirements, the relevant ad must be modified in accordance with the Council’s recommendations and subsequently submitted for new assessment, otherwise it may not be commissioned or disseminated.
d. Should a Member fail to submit its copy for Copy Advice and produce an advertisement that is at variance with these self-regulation principles, the Member will respect the decision of the Advertising Standards Council and remove (withdraw, stop disseminating) the relevant advertisements not later than within 7 days of receipt of the Council decision.
e. Should a Member fail to respect the Council decision pursuant to the preceding paragraph and continue to use or disseminate the relevant advertisement, this fact will be published on the Council website.
Sharing responsibility
a. Advertising agencies, public relations organisations or other third parties commissioned for the preparation of advertisements by the Members will be acquainted with these principles, and contractually bound to perform all the services and activities for their clients in accordance with them.
b. Co-operation for consideration or in the form of barter with celebrities, brand ambassadors and influencers on social networks shall always be properly marked as co-operation or advertising. Alcohol distributors and vendors will be instructed by the Members not to motivate minors under 18 years of age to buy or drink alcohol.
UVDL © 2020; All rights reserved
Self-Regulation Principles
Set of rules and measures concerning alcohol advertisements agreed on 8 July 2020 by Czech Union of Breweries and Malthouses Czech Winemakers’ Association Czech Union of Spirits Producers and Importers.
Advertising forms an integral part of the business environment in the field of sale of spirits and the promotion of sale thereof. Being aware of their social responsibility, members of the Czech Union of Breweries and Malthouses, Czech Winemakers’ Association and the Czech Union of Spirits Producers and Importers (hereinafter jointly as the “Members”) voluntarily undertake to comply with these self-regulation principles, which stipulate the minimum requirements for the commissioning, creation and dissemination of advertising for alcoholic beverages in all types of media. These self-regulation principles stipulate only minimum requirements for advertising of alcoholic beverages, do not replace legal regulation of advertising following from generally binding legal regulations and do not prevent any Member from setting, or complying with, rules stricter than those contained in these self-regulation principles.
Persons under 18 years of age
a. Advertisements will never target minors under 18 years of age and will not be disseminated through media targeting mainly audience younger than 18 years of age.
b. Advertisements disseminated via the Internet and social networks will never target minors under 18 years of age, or be deliberately shown at websites or next to content typical for this group, or exploit the internet presence of third parties – e.g. celebrities and influencers the visitors of whose websites and consumers of whose content are primarily minors under 18 years of age.
c. Alcohol brands may only be promoted by influencers at least 70% of whose followers/fans on social networks are over 18 years of age during such co-operation.
d. Anyone entering the websites of the Members will always be required to confirm that they have reached the legal drinking age (that they are 18 or over).
e. Actors in audio-visual adverts must not be or look under 25.
f. Celebrities, brand ambassadors and influencers shall always be acquainted with these self-regulation principles and will be bound to comply with them to the full extent.
g. Advertisements will not use any graphic designs, symbols, music, cartoon characters or other objects and art forms associated with persons under 18 years of age.
h. It will not be possible to grant licences for the use of alcohol products, logos or brands on children’s apparel, toys, games or other products appealing primarily to persons under 18 years of age.
i. Sponsoring of programmes or events by the Members is permitted only where more than 70% of participants, listeners or viewers are expected to be over 18 years of age.
j. All advertising campaigns, competitions and prizes to be won and similar offers and events may be held only in places where more than 70% of the audience are expected to be over 18 years of age.
k. The Members will not allow legally showing alcohol brands on children’s size replica sportswear. Neither will they take other marketing offers to show alcohol names and logos on products primarily appealing to minors under 18 years of age.
l. The Members agree to set the profiles of their products on social networks so that the relevant social networks operators ensure that the contents of the advertisements are not displayed to persons under 18 years of age.
m. The Members agree to use the media (TV, radio, online) whose target groups contain at least 70% of people of 18+ years of age.
n. Starting from 1 July 2024 at the latest, the “18+” symbol will be present on the products packaging, pointing out that alcoholic beverages may not be sold to persons under 18 years of age, and, at the same time, informing such persons of the prohibition.
Antisocial behaviour
a. Advertising will not in any way associate alcohol consumption with extraordinary abilities.
b. Advertisements will not associate drinking with violent, aggressive or dangerous behaviour or antisocial conduct.
c. Alcohol consumption must not be associated with sexual success.
d. Advertisements will not claim that drinking can lead to social success or popularity.
Driving motor vehicles
a. Advertisements will not associate drinking with driving motor vehicles.
b. Advertising and promotion may not imply that drinking prior or during driving motor vehicles is acceptable.
Pregnant women
a. Advertisements may not encourage pregnant women to drink.
b. Starting from 1 July 2024 at the latest, the pregnancy logo will be present on the products packaging.
Abstinence
Advertisements will not present abstinence in a negative way or imply that non-drinking is wrong or abnormal.
Minorities
Advertisements will not claim or imply that some products are consumed by religious groups that forbid drinking or by certain ethnic or national groups.
Curative and therapeutic benefits
Advertisements will not present alcohol as a “cure”. Promotional materials will not imply or suggest that alcohol can provide preventive or therapeutic benefits.
Personal responsibility
a. Advertisements must inform all members of the public about personal responsibility in consuming alcohol. Consumers targeted by our advertisements decide for themselves whether they should drink or not, and if they decide to drink, they will be encouraged to do so responsibly.
b. Whenever possible, advertisements will contain references to the “Pij s rozumem” (Drink Sensibly) project, or to other similar project supporting prevention and responsible drinking.
Packaging
a. Product packaging will not contain any elements particularly attractive to people below 18 years of age. The labels will not include any sexual motives.
b. Starting from 1 July 2024 at the latest, the “18+” symbol and pregnancy logo will be included in the information on the products packaging.
Compliance Assessment
a. The compliance with the above self-regulation rules will be supervised by an independent body – the Advertising Standards Council (the “Council”). The aim of the Council is to ensure that the advertising in the territory of the Czech Republic is honest, legal, decent, truthful, and that it complies with the requirements of this self-regulation code.
b. The Members commissioning alcohol advertising for TV will apply the “Copy Advice” mechanism, i.e. submit draft advertisements for assessment to the Council, as an independent arbiter, before the preparation of the ad is initiated.
c. In assessing the script, the Council will assess compliance with the self-regulation principles as well as the generally binding legal regulations pertaining to advertising for alcoholic beverages. The Member must respect the Council’s conclusion concerning (non)compliance of the ad with the above. If the Council comes to the conclusion that the ad does not comply with the requirements, the relevant ad must be modified in accordance with the Council’s recommendations and subsequently submitted for new assessment, otherwise it may not be commissioned or disseminated.
d. Should a Member fail to submit its copy for Copy Advice and produce an advertisement that is at variance with these self-regulation principles, the Member will respect the decision of the Advertising Standards Council and remove (withdraw, stop disseminating) the relevant advertisements not later than within 7 days of receipt of the Council decision.
e. Should a Member fail to respect the Council decision pursuant to the preceding paragraph and continue to use or disseminate the relevant advertisement, this fact will be published on the Council website.
Sharing responsibility
a. Advertising agencies, public relations organisations or other third parties commissioned for the preparation of advertisements by the Members will be acquainted with these principles, and contractually bound to perform all the services and activities for their clients in accordance with them.
b. Co-operation for consideration or in the form of barter with celebrities, brand ambassadors and influencers on social networks shall always be properly marked as co-operation or advertising. Alcohol distributors and vendors will be instructed by the Members not to motivate minors under 18 years of age to buy or drink alcohol.
UVDL © 2020; All rights reserved
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