SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Rubén Canales and Ignacio Temiño, Abril Abogados
2.5 Endorsements and Testimonials In Spain, there are no general legal provisions regard - ing testimonials used in advertising, except in relation to the advertising of the following: • Health Products: Testimonials from health profes - sionals, celebrities or people well-known to the public, or real or supposed patients as a means of inducing consumption or use, are prohibited. • Gambling: The appearance in commercial com - munications of people or characters of public relevance or notoriety, whether real or fictional, is prohibited. • Advertising Targeted at Children: Food or bever - age advertising directed at minors may not feature characters known or famous among the general public who enjoy a high degree of popularity among children. Autocontrol’s Code of Advertising Practice contains provisions on testimonials and determines that when advertising includes recommendations and/or testi - monials, they must be truthful. Truthfulness should apply both to the person giving the testimony and to the content of the recommendation and/or testimony. The advertiser must have the written authorisation of the testimonial, and it is the advertiser’s responsibil - ity to prove the truthfulness of the advertisement. In those cases in which the message, due to its formal or content characteristics, may mislead the user about its sponsorship, the sponsored nature of the testimo - ny must be made clear by means of an appropriate warning. According to the Unfair Competition Act, all compa - nies using testimonials must take, in advance, propor - tionate and reasonable steps to verify the genuine and truthful origin of such testimonials. Adding or com - missioning the inclusion of false or misrepresented consumer reviews and/or misrepresenting consumer or social media user reviews for the purpose of pro - moting goods or services is strictly prohibited. 2.6 Environmental Claims The Spanish Best Practice Code on Environmental Claims in Commercial Communications, developed by the government of Spain in 2009, involves a commit - ment to promoting social responsibility in advertising,
especially in terms of the truthfulness and legality of the environmental arguments used. This code applies to all advertising in Spain that contains environmen - tal arguments and promotes the responsible use of these arguments, avoiding the abuse of consumers’ environmental concerns and the exploitation of their lack of knowledge. The code establishes ethical principles such as legal - ity, loyalty, social responsibility, truthfulness and objectivity: • Commercial communications containing environ - mental claims must comply with current legislation, regardless of their content, medium or format. They must also comply with the principles of good faith, ethical business practices and social responsibility. They should not promote environmentally damag - ing behaviour. • Environmental arguments should be truthful and updated as necessary. They should be based on objective and verifiable evidence. • Simple and precise language should be used, avoiding exaggeration and ambiguity. Environ - mental benefit claims should be specific, relevant and objective, clearly indicating to which product, component or life cycle stage they refer. • Generic claims about environmental benefits should be avoided unless justified. Any additional or explanatory information should be presented in a way that is understood to be read alongside the environmental argument, without essentially con - tradicting or limiting it. • Comparative or environmental superiority argu - ments must be specific and based on a clear basis of comparison. Environmental superiority can only be claimed if a significant advantage can be dem - onstrated, and the products compared must serve the same purpose and meet the same needs. • Environmental impact reduction claims must clearly specify what has been reduced and be justified by significant improvements in the life cycle of the product. Claims on the absence of certain com - ponents are only valid if the level of the specified substance does not exceed its detection limit. The code also provides definitions and guidelines for the use of a number of common environmental
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