Definition and marking of political advertising

1. Political advertising shall consist of positive or negative information disseminated by, on behalf and/or in the interest of a state politician, a political organisation, its member, a campaigner, a candidate in any form and through any means, in return for payment or free of charge, during an electoral political campaign or between electoral political campaigns, where such information is aimed at affecting election results or influencing the motivation of voters when voting in an election, or where it is disseminated for the purpose of election campaigning for a state politician, a political organisation, its member, an campaigner or a candidate, as well as their ideas, objectives or programme.

2. Paid political advertising shall be political advertising which is prepared, produced and/or disseminated for payment or political advertising for the preparation, production and/or dissemination of which financial resources are used or persons are involved who normally provide such services for payment.
3. Payment for political advertising linked to an electoral political campaign may only be limited to a campaigner.

4. Paid political advertising must be clearly distinguished from other information disseminated under the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission. Throughout the period from the beginning of an electoral political campaign and the proclamation of the final results of an election, paid political advertising must be clearly marked as such by indicating the source of financing under the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission.

5. Unmarked political advertising shall be considered to be hidden political advertising. Political advertising which is not marked in accordance with the requirements and hidden political advertising shall be prohibited and their dissemination shall be subject to statutory liability.

6. Besides the special requirements laid down in this Code, the principles and requirements set out in other laws shall also apply to political advertising.

7. Before political advertising is made public, a campaigner must declare to the Central Electoral Commission, under the procedure laid down by the latter, all social media accounts through which it intends to carry out paid political advertising and election campaigning as well as the persons authorised to administer and pay for the dissemination of paid political advertising on those accounts.