Discussing the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Advertising

On the afternoon of November 25, within the framework of the 8th Session, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Advertising.

Through discussion, 17 National Assembly deputies spoke and 01 delegate debated, basically agreeing with the necessity of amending and supplementing a number of articles of the current Advertising Law to overcome shortcomings, limitations, and inadequacies, contributing to the development of the Vietnamese advertising market for the common benefit of the whole society. The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism spoke to explain the content that the deputies were interested in.

Debate on print newspaper advertising space limits

This is one of the contents that attracted many comments from delegates. According to delegate Pham Van Hoa ( Dong Thap delegation), currently the advertising market share in print newspapers has decreased sharply, adjusting the advertising space in print newspapers will fundamentally solve the difficulties for press agencies in practicing financial autonomy.

Delegate Pham Van Hoa

Therefore, delegate Pham Van Hoa proposed to study the option of removing regulations limiting the advertising area ratio in traditional newspapers and magazines so that press agencies can decide on advertising area according to readers' needs and market demand.

Contrary to the above viewpoint, delegate Tran Thi Thanh Huong (An Giang delegation) said that, in the face of the development trend of online advertising, increasing the area and duration of advertising for the press is one of the important and necessary factors, partly contributing to increasing revenue for press agencies, solving difficulties in implementing financial autonomy. However, the important thing is still to innovate, improve the quality of press product content and increase the quality of advertising content, not just increase the duration and area of ​​advertising too much, which can easily affect the tastes of readers and audiences.

Delegate Tran Thi Thanh Huong

Therefore, delegate Tran Thi Thanh Huong suggested that the Drafting Committee continue to research and carefully evaluate the impact so that the regulation on increasing advertising area and duration has a truly appropriate and convincing ratio. In addition, there should be binding regulations on the ratio of advertising area and location for each different type of press so as not to affect the quality of content and readers' tastes.

Participating in the debate on this issue, delegate Do Chi Nghia (Phu Yen delegation) expressed his opinion that expanding the advertising space in printed newspapers will help press agencies better implement the financial autonomy mechanism and better in their operations. However, in reality, the current difficulties of press agencies are not due to lack of advertising space but the most difficult is the lack of advertising. This is like trains are lacking passengers but the solution is to add more train cars .

Delegate Do Chi Nghia

According to delegate Do Chi Nghia, the main issue is to promote more " train passengers ". In addition, the delegate also noted that the market may fluctuate , such as advertising in the press may increase again in the future . Therefore , the delegate agrees with the viewpoint of delegate Pham Van Hoa on giving autonomy to press agencies regarding advertising space as delegate Pham Van Hoa 's opinion .

However, delegate Do Chi Nghia expressed concern that if this autonomy and self-determination of advertising area is given, it could lead to some press agencies with a stable number of readers, a stable circulation, or newspapers guaranteed by the State budget increasing their advertising area, which is "very offensive". Therefore, the delegate said that, except for special press agencies, press agencies using the State budget, press agencies that are ordered, have their products covered... then newspapers and magazines should decide on advertising area in printed newspapers.

According to the delegate, there are many ways to regulate this issue, however, the Government should be assigned to regulate in detail, that is, for special press agencies and newspapers guaranteed by the State budget, the Government should regulate in detail. The rest should be regulated openly, "because it is too much to manage", such regulations will be open and effective, suitable for the current market economy conditions when today's readers are very discerning, will choose products that are serious, decent and responsible to the public and to society.

Proposal to strengthen control of advertising on social networks

Speaking at the discussion session, delegate Phan Thi My Dung (Long An delegation) emphasized the need to add specific regulations to control advertising on social networks. According to the delegate, currently, the control of advertising on television and newspapers is implemented quite strictly, but advertising activities on social networks are loose due to the lack of legal corridors and the complexity of the network environment.

Delegate Phan Thi My Dung

The female delegate said that the draft Law mentioned the responsibility of state agencies in preventing and removing illegal advertisements, but the regulations have not yet clarified the coordination mechanism between competent agencies. This leads to the risk of difficulty in achieving the goal of preventing and deterring violations in the online environment.

From there, the delegates proposed to add specific prohibited acts in advertising activities on social networks, and at the same time build a separate chapter regulating the conditions, procedures, and methods of advertising on cyberspace. Delegate Phan Thi My Dung also emphasized the importance of clearly distinguishing the types of goods and services that are not allowed to be advertised online, or sharing acts on the internet that are not advertising but are like advertising to protect consumer rights in the context of strong e-commerce development.

Also expressing his opinion on this issue, delegate Thach Phuoc Binh (Tra Vinh delegation) expressed his concern about the effectiveness of handling violations in current advertising activities. He said that more than 70% of violations in online advertising are handled slowly due to the lack of consistent regulations and regulations suitable for new forms of advertising.

Delegate Thach Phuoc Binh

According to the delegate, the draft needs to add specialized provisions for online advertising, including advertising on social networks and artificial intelligence applications. He also recommended establishing an inter-sectoral coordination mechanism between ministries to increase the effectiveness of handling violations.

Delegates suggested adding regulations requiring platforms to review and censor advertising content before displaying it; establishing strong sanctions, requiring the removal of violating content within 24 hours. In particular, increasing the administrative fine for false advertising to 2-3 times the benefit gained; publicizing the list of violating businesses as a deterrent...

Along with that, to protect consumer rights in online advertising, delegate Thach Phuoc Binh suggested that advertisements must clearly state information about products, services, responsible units and after-sales support mechanisms. In addition, it is necessary to issue strict sanctions against the unauthorized use of customers' personal data, and at the same time, promote propaganda to raise people's awareness of privacy rights.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/thao-luan-du-thao-luat-sua-doi-bo-sung-mot-so-dieu-cua-luat-quang-cao-158115.html