Article 5 of the Regulation on Official Announcements and Advertisements defines an official announcement by two separate criteria. An announcement falling under either sub-paragraph is an official announcement; if it falls under neither it is a private announcement or advertising.
Two criteria (Art. 5(1))
| Sub-para. | Criterion |
|---|---|
| (a) | Announcements whose publication is compulsory under a law, presidential decree, by-law or regulation |
| (b) | Announcements not of an advertising nature belonging to administrations within central government, local administrations, social security institutions, universities, chambers and exchanges, unions, bar associations, public economic enterprises, undertakings more than half of whose capital belongs to public legal persons, and their subsidiaries |
The two sub-paragraphs work on different logics. Sub-paragraph (a) looks at the nature of the matter: if publication is made compulsory by a legislative provision, the announcement is official whoever gives it. Sub-paragraph (b) looks at who gives it: announcements of the listed public bodies are official even where not compulsory, provided they are not of an advertising nature.
The private association exception (Art. 5(2))
The second paragraph introduces a one-sentence exception: announcements that private associations are obliged to give within the scope of sub-paragraph (a) of the first paragraph are not treated as official announcements.
An announcement that an association is obliged to publish under legislation therefore falls outside the scope of official announcements even though it satisfies the compulsion condition. That is the most important limit on sub-paragraph (a).
What is an advertisement? (Art. 6)
Article 6(1) defines advertising: content published in periodicals visually, aurally or in writing for the purpose of obtaining a material or moral benefit, such as attracting custom for something or an idea, or for the purpose of promotion, is treated as an advertisement.
The second paragraph defines an official advertisement: under Article 42 of Law No. 195, the advertisements given to periodicals by the offices and undertakings listed in Article 5(1)(b), by other institutions established by law or presidential decree, or by their subsidiaries.
| Type | Who gives it | How it is published |
|---|---|---|
| Official announcement | Those compulsory under legislation, or the public bodies in Art. 5(1)(b) | Through the Agency, over the official announcement tariff |
| Official advertisement | The offices and undertakings in Art. 5(1)(b) and institutions established by law or presidential decree | In accordance with the advertiser’s preference, in publications holding the right to publish official advertisements, through the Agency |
| Private announcement / advertisement | Natural and legal persons | Over the publication’s own tariff |
The third paragraph makes a distinction clear: official advertisements are published through the Agency in publications holding the right to publish official advertisements, in accordance with the advertiser’s preference. Official announcements, by contrast, are distributed under the quota system.
The labelling requirement (Art. 6(4))
The fourth paragraph protects the reader: news items, images, videos, texts and the like that are of an announcement or advertising nature must be stated to be an announcement or advertisement in a way that leaves no doubt.
That provision is the official announcement legislation’s counterpart to the prohibition on surreptitious advertising.
What happens in case of doubt?
A dispute may arise over whether an announcement is to be treated as official. Article 30 of Law No. 195 regulates how such disputes are resolved: in case of dispute the decision of the Agency’s Board of Directors is followed; where the Board considers it necessary, or the Directorate General or the party concerned so requests, the matter is referred to the General Assembly, and the principle decisions the General Assembly takes in that way or of its own motion are final. Those decisions are published in the Official Gazette.
Examples settled by principle decisions
- General assembly convocation announcements of tradesmen and craftsmen credit and guarantee cooperatives — official announcements (GA 220).
- Announcements that insurance and reinsurance companies are obliged to publish under legislation — official announcements (GA 174).
- Compulsory announcements of foundation universities are official announcements, their voluntary promotion private announcements or advertising (GA 162).
- Commercial announcements of public undertakings engaged in commercial activity are treated as advertising (GA 34).
Those four are covered separately in the cooperative guide, the insurance guide, the foundation university guide and the airline advertising guide.
Conclusion
An announcement becomes official by one of two routes: its publication is compulsory under legislation (Art. 5(1)(a)), or it belongs to the public bodies listed in the article and is not of an advertising nature (Art. 5(1)(b)). Compulsory announcements of private associations fall outside that scope.
Advertising is content aimed at attracting custom or at promotion; advertisements given by public bodies are treated as official advertisements and are subject to a different distribution regime. In both cases the announcement or advertising nature must be stated clearly to the reader.