SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Rubén Canales and Ignacio Temiño, Abril Abogados
1.5 Pre-Approvals Generally, pre-approvals of advertising are not required. However, an exception is made for the advertising of the following products and services: • Medicinal Products: Permission is granted by the health authorities of the autonomous region where the advertising is to be shown. • Gambling: The game operator should obtain a gen - eral authorisation from the National Gaming Com - mission empowering them to develop advertising activities, sponsorship or promotion of gambling. • Tobacco: Tobacco operators are obliged to notify the Commissioner for the Tobacco Market ( Comi‑ sionado para el Mercado de Tabacos , or CMT) in advance of any promotional campaigns for tobac - co products that they intend to hold in tobacco shops, subject to the limitations and prohibitions established in the applicable regulations. • Banking and Financial Services, Cryptocurren - cies: Authorisation will be granted by the banking or finance authorities (the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) or Bank of Spain). 1.6 Intellectual Property and Publicity Rights According to Intellectual Property Law (Royal Legisla - tive Decree 1/1996), the use of any copyrighted work requires the prior authorisation of the copyright holder. In accordance with the Civil Protection of the Right to Honour, Personal and Family Privacy and Image Act (Law 1/1982), it is illegal to use the name, voice, or likeness of a person for advertising or commercial purposes (or purposes of a similar nature) without the consent of the individual. Therefore, the use of intellectual property or a person’s name, image, voice or likeness in advertising always requires authorisation. 1.7 Self-Regulatory Authorities Autocontrol manages the Spanish system of self-reg - ulation of commercial communication on the basis of three main instruments:
• Codes of Conduct: The Code of Advertising Prac - tice of Autocontrol is based on the Code of Adver - tising and Marketing Communication Practice of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Code), and the Sectoral Codes of Conduct whose application has been entrusted to Autocontrol. • Advertising Jury: This is the extrajudicial dispute resolution body that is responsible for resolving advertising complaints. • Legal Counsel: This service is provided by experts in advertising law, privacy and data protection and IT, who advise companies on the fulfilment of their legal obligations in these areas. Autocontrol activities include the handling of com - plaints about commercial communications submitted by consumers, consumer associations, businesses and public offices. Autocontrol also offers advice to companies through tools such as: • Copy Advice ® : advice on the legal and ethical com - pliance of non-broadcast advertising campaigns before their broadcast; • Cookie Advice ® : technical and legal advice on the use of cookies; • Data Advice ® : technical and legal advice on data protection and digital regulation; • Web Advice ® : advice on compliance with advertis - ing regulations on websites; • Copy Advice ® briefing influencers: adapting the Copy Advice ® service to evaluate the briefing pro - vided by advertisers or agencies to their influenc - ers; and • Investment Copy Advice ® : Specific Copy Advice ® on products, services, or advertising supervised by the CNMV (eg, investment funds, delegated portfo - lio management, etc). 1.8 Private Right of Action for Consumers Consumers and consumer associations have various options for lodging complaints against advertising practices. One of the options open to them is to complain to the consumer authorities regarding violations of con - sumer regulations. Most regional and municipal gov -
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