CYPRUS Law and Practice Contributed by: Stelios Christophides and Vasilis Charalambous, George Z Georgiou & Associates LLC
It should also be noted that the Digital Services Act bans targeted advertising of minors based on profil - ing. 6.6 Other Rules Before collecting and using people’s personal data for advertising purposes, advertisers must have their explicit, informed consent. Advertisers are required to be honest about data processing procedures, includ - ing the reasons for processing and the duration of data retention. Under GDPR, people have more rights, such as the ability to view, correct, delete, or transfer their data. Advertisers are required to support these rights, and to obtain user permission before installing non-essential Cookies on a user’s device, according to the E-Privacy Directive also. These regulations are expected to be reinforced and better harmonised by the upcoming E-Privacy Regulation. 7. Sweepstakes and Other Consumer Promotions 7.1 Sweepstakes and Contests The main criterion for whether a sweepstake or chance-based contest is permitted or not depends on whether a participation or registration fee is neces - sary. If the sweepstake requires any form of consider - ation to be paid by participants, this activity is likely to be classified as a lottery which is expressly prohibited pursuant to the Lotteries Law (Cap 74). Lotteries in general are not permitted under Cypriot Law, unless they fall in the following exceptions: • government lotteries; • small lotteries in which the proceeds will be allo - cated for charitable purposes; and • private lotteries within organisations which are limited to employees of the organisation. Apart from the possibility of the chance-based con - test being classified as a lottery, sweepstakes are, to a large extent, unregulated. However, the general advertising framework and provisions ensuring the protection of consumers should be followed. Addi - tionally, any collection and processing of personal data should adhere to the GDPR and the Law provid -
ing for the Protection of Natural Persons with regard to the Processing of Personal Data of 2018. The purpose of using the data collected must be clearly defined and the consent requirements provided by the GDPR should be observed. 7.2 Contests of Skill and Games of Chance Cypriot legislation is silent with respect to games of skill. Absent any express legislation, it is under - stood that games of skill are the opposite of games of chance. Whereas the winner of a chance-based game is determined by luck, skill-based games are those in which the winner is determined based on a physical or mental attribute and requires the active participation of the individual. In circumstances where the winner is selected partly by a skill-based method and partly by a chance-based element, this may constitute and infringement of the Lotteries Law provided that the word “lottery” is wide - ly defined as any “scheme for distributing prizes by lot or chance”. The same considerations regarding con - sumer and data protection in respect of sweepstakes will also apply to skill-based contests. 7.3 Registration and Approval Requirements The present Cypriot legal framework does not pro - vide rules mandating any government/regulatory body registration pre-approvals with respect to skill-based contests. As described above, all lotteries are unlawful. There - fore, any chance game which falls in the definition of lottery is prohibited. The exception permitted by law with regards to charitable raffles requires express An example of an unfair practice, according to the CP Law 2021 which is expressly regulated, is where a product is described as “gratis”, “free”, “without charge”, or similar, if the consumer must pay anything other than the unavoidable cost of responding to the commercial practice and collecting or paying for deliv - ery of the item. permission from the Minister of Finance. 7.4 Free and Reduced-Price Offers
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