National Assembly of Ecuador Adopts Extensive Restrictions on Advertising | ANA Government Relations | ANA

National Assembly of Ecuador Adopts Extensive Restrictions on Advertising

We have just been informed that the National Assembly of Ecuador passed a law with significant restrictions on advertising in the country. Under the law, all foreign-made advertisements are banned. Advertisements under this law will only be considered a national ad if a majority of the production company’s shareholders are citizens or legal residents of Ecuador and if at least 80 percent of those contributing to an advertisement’s production are Ecuadorian citizens or legal residents. The law also requires all food advertisements and advertisements to be shown during children’s programming to be approved by the government. Additionally, an advertisement for any product whose regular use may affect the health of the user is prohibited, and the list of such products will be determined by the Health Ministry. The prohibited list will include alcohol beverage and tobacco and certain other named products.

While there are serious questions among opposition lawmakers in Ecuador about this law being used by the government to exert control over opposition coverage in the media, this law poses very serious threats to advertisers. We are working with the World Federation of Advertisers to fully assess the impacts of this law.

If you have questions, please contact Dan Jaffe in our Washington office at 202-296-1883 or via email (djaffe@ana.net).