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May 30, 2018
- Ad Tax Introduced in California
- DAA Introduces PoliticalAd Initiative
- GDPR in Effect
- DTC Update
- AAF Day on the Hill Date Set
Ad Tax Introduced in California
California State Senator Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, has introduced legislation
that would extend the state’s sales tax to many services, including
purchases of advertising “on television, radio, in print, on the
Internet, or by any other medium.” The bill was one of many considered in preliminary hearing on Wednesday, May 16 in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee.
There was limited opportunity to testify at the hearing, although the
room was reportedly full of opponents of the tax. No vote was taken and
there seemed to be very limited support for the measure among Committee
members. A Second hearing has been tentatively scheduled for June 13.
DAA Introduces PoliticalAd Initiative
The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) has launched an industry-wide initiative to increase transparency and accountability around digital political ads, including new guidance for political advertisers
and a “PoliticalAd” icon that will link to additional information on
such ads. AAF is one of the supporting associations of the DAA.
Building on the success of the DAA’s existing YourAdChoices
program, the new “PoliticalAd” icon will serve as an immediate, simple,
and intuitive tool for people to get information on the political ads
covered by the new guidelines. Information available through the icon
will include the political advertiser’s name, contact information,
contribution or expenditure records (when applicable), individual
contacts, and other required disclosures.
Under the DAA’s
new guidance for political advertising, the PoliticalAd icon and/or
wording should be used to provide clear, meaningful, and prominent
notice for ads that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a
candidate for federal office and in certain state-wide elections. The
icon/wording should link to disclosures, including:
-
Name of the political advertiser
-
Phone number, address, website, or alternative and reliable contact information for the advertiser
-
Other information required by applicable federal or state law for such notices
-
Link to a government database of contributions and expenditures for the advertiser, if applicable
-
Any disclaimers
required by state or federal law, if the ad itself is too small to
display them (as permitted by applicable law)
-
Name(s) of the advertiser’s CEO, executive committee, board of directors, or treasurer
The DAA will
review the implementation for the guidance on an ongoing basis and
evaluate any additional steps that might be necessary to effectively
implement this guidance or further increase transparency around
political advertising.
AAF and its
partner trade associations in the DAA have filed comments with the
Federal Election Commission regarding the “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
on Internet Communication Disclaimers and the Definition of ‘Public
Communication’.” The comments urged the FEC to adopt rules that permit
political advertising to use icons in ads for communications
disclosures, providing that engaging the icon leads to the full
disclaimer.
GDPR in Effect
The European Union began enforcing the General Data Protection Regulation
on May 25. The regulation includes many stringent new requirements
pertaining to the collection, use and processing of personally
identifiable information of persons inside the European Union. Under
GDPR individuals in the EU have a much greater right of control over
their data and companies that run afoul of the regulation could be
subject to very heavy fines.
Any company that
does business with customers in the EU is encourage to seek legal
counsel and assure that all privacy and data protection practices are in
full compliance with the new regulations.
DTC Update
While speaking
about reducing the price of prescription drugs President Trump did not
call for restrictions on direct to consumer advertising of
pharmaceuticals or for limiting the tax deductibility of those ads.
The administration is, however, considering requiring DTC ads to include drug prices. Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
Scott Gottlieb has acknowledged that the proposal raised a number of
questions such as “Does the disclosure of the price information provide
appropriate balance to the consumer — like, is the information about the
cost of the drug and the accessibility of the drug important at the
time that they’re seeing the advertisement, in order to provide
appropriate disclosure and fair balance in the advertisement?”
Also uncertain is
whether the government can legally compel the disclosures. If so, given
the complexity of drug pricing how would the disclosed price would be
determined?
AAF Day on the Hill Date Set
The next AAF Day
on the Hill will be in Washington, DC on March 6 and 7, 2019. Mark your
calendars and watch this space for more information this summer and
fall. For sponsorship opportunities contact AAF's Executive Vice President of Government Affairs, Clark Rector at [email protected].
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The AAF protects and promotes advertising at all levels of government through grassroots activities. Our nation-wide network monitors advertising-related legislation on local, state and federal levels. We put our members face-to-face with influential lawmakers while encouraging self-regulation as a preemptor to government intervention, when appropriate of course. To learn more about our advocacy efforts, click here.