Communications Regulatory Authority

Misleading advertising
Under article 7, paragraph 5 of legislative decree no. 74 of 25 January 1992, as
amended by legislative decree no. 67 of 25 February 200, and as entirely replaced by
article 26, paragraph 5 of legislative decree no. 206 of 6 September 2005 setting forth
the “Code of consumption”, when an advertisement was or is going to be published in
the periodical or daily press or aired on the radio or television or by any other media,
before holding an advertisement to be misleading or a comparative advertisement to be
illegal, the Italian Antitrust Authority shall request a mandatory, though non-binding,
opinion to the Communications Regulatory Authority, which shall issue it no later than
thirty days since the date the request was received.
In the reference period AGCOM issued 185 opinions, 87 of which were related
to advertisements published in the periodical and daily press, 39 involved
advertisements aired on radio and television, and 86 involved advertisements conveyed
by other media. 21 advertisements which were the object of opinions had been
conveyed by several media, while an increasing number of complaints was reported in
connection with advertisements circulated on the Internet (77 complaints), in line with
this medium being increasingly used by an even larger number of consumers of
different social and cultural backgrounds. As a consequence, a distinction was drawn
with respect to the alleged reference target of advertisements reported, according to the
type of web site and their relevant access by search engines.
Two opinions relating to non-marked advertisements aired on television were
the starting point to initiate two sanctioning proceedings against broadcasters (Italia 1
and Canale 5) for breach of provisions set forth in the Consolidation Act and in the
regulations on radio and television advertising and teleshopping.
2.8. POLLS
AGCOM’s supervisory action with regard to polls involves, in the first place,
analysing methods by which polls are disclosed to the public, and verifying that, when a
poll outcome is made public, a fact sheet containing all information on survey
populations and methods is also published/aired by the mass media involved.
Inspections are also aimed at ascertaining compliance with the obligation both to
make the full “survey report” available, with regard to polls published or aired to the
public, and to set forth exactly the methods adopted to carry out the poll, the
significance and limitations of the outcome obtained, and any facts that might be useful
for the additional analysis to be carried out by AGCOM on the actual consistency of
such methods with those stated by the firm that carried out the poll.
185