The Government of the Republic of Serbia, on May 22, 2025, adopted and proposed to the Parliament the Amendments to the Law on Advertising. In the announcement published on this occasion, it is stated that the proposal represents a further step in harmonizing with European Union regulations, specifically with the new regulatory framework concerning the provision of audiovisual media services.

Namely, the current Law on Advertising dates from 2016 and is, particularly in the part relating to television advertising, aligned with the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive from 2010. As that Directive was amended in 2018, it became necessary - based on Serbia's obligations under the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU - to align the national law with the amended Directive as well.

If adopted by the National Assembly in the proposed form, the amendments will be significant for both advertisers and advertising service providers.

Television broadcasters will gain greater flexibility in the use of advertising time. Instead of the current limit of 20% of advertising per hour of broadcast on commercial television channels and 10% on public service channels, it will now be possible to exceed 12 or 6 minutes of advertising in any given hour. However, the overall advertising volume must still not exceed 20% (for commercial TV) or 10% (for public service TV) in the periods between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., and between 6 p.m. and midnight.

Furthermore, stricter rules are introduced for advertising games of chance, while the already restrictive rules on tobacco product advertising will be extended to products similar to tobacco.

One surprising aspect of the proposal relates to advertising by hospitality providers and accommodation facilities via internet platforms with domains registered abroad. The Proposal stipulates that only those hospitality providers and accommodation facilities that are registered in the central information system for hospitality and tourism, as defined by the Law on Hospitality, may advertise on internet platforms with domains registered abroad.

In cases where a hospitality provider or an accommodation facility that is not registered in the central information system violates this prohibition, the Proposal introduces the possibility of imposing a measure to restrict the freedom to provide information society services. This would be done by blocking access to the internet address of the advertiser, including IP address blocking by electronic communications service providers.

There is a sense that such a restriction might be disproportionate, but it remains to be seen how the government will justify and defend it in parliament.

For more detailed information regarding advertising in Serbia, please contact our attorney Slobodan Kremenjak, the exclusive member of the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA) for Serbia, or any of your regular contacts at Živković Samardžić.