The technical name of the sanction referred to as a “penalty” in the official announcement legislation is suspension of the right to publish. Its length is not a fixed number of days; under Article 110 of the Regulation on Official Announcements and Advertisements it is determined as the number of days from the date the breach began to the date it ended.
The period equals the length of the breach itself
Article 110(2) gives the formula: the period during which the right to publish is suspended is the number of days from the date the breach giving rise to the suspension began to the date the breach ended.
The practical meaning matters: the sanction is measured by the duration of the breach, not its gravity. A deficiency lasting three days produces a three-day suspension; one lasting two months produces a two-month suspension.
| Period of breach | Period of suspension |
|---|---|
| 5 days | 5 days |
| 1 month | 1 month |
| 3 months | 3 months |
Article 110(1) also makes the consequence clear: no official announcements are given to a newspaper or online news site whose right is suspended until the breaches are remedied and the right resumes.
The right does not come back by itself
Article 111 makes resumption depend on a process. The right does not revive automatically when the breach disappears; you have to act.
- Application. A signed application is made stating that the breaches giving rise to the suspension have disappeared; the date of application is the date the letter reaches the Agency’s records.
- Examination. An examination is made on the application.
- Inspection if necessary. Where considered necessary, an inspection board may be constituted and an inspection ordered.
- Decision. If the breach is found to have been remedied, the right to publish resumes with effect from the date the breach was remedied.
Is the suspension period compensated?
Article 112 regulates set-off and compensation: the amount corresponding to official announcements published during a period of breach is set off, and the equivalent of official announcements that could not be published despite the right existing is compensated.
The operations are carried out in the following months over half the publication’s monthly quota at the date of the decision; where the amount exceeds three times the monthly quota it is applied over the whole quota. See the payment and set-off guide.
Suspension and termination are different things
The two concepts must be separated. Suspension is temporary and the right resumes when the breach is remedied. Termination is the complete disappearance of the right and occurs in the cases listed in Article 113.
Article 113(1)(a) links the two: the right of a newspaper or online news site whose right to publish does not resume within six months of the date the suspension decision was notified to it comes to an end.
Suspension is therefore not an indefinite wait: if you do not remedy the breach within six months, a temporary sanction becomes permanent. All the grounds of termination are covered in the loss of right guide.
Conclusion
The length of an announcement suspension is not fixed; it equals the number of days from the start of the breach to the date it ended. No official announcements are given during the suspension. The right does not return by itself — a signed application, an examination and where necessary an inspection are required, and the right resumes with effect from the date the breach was remedied.
If the right does not resume within six months of notification of the decision it ends altogether. Which breaches lead to suspension is covered in the violations guide.