European UnionPolitical Advertising Regulation, Article 15 (Notices about possibly non-compliant political advertisements)
Regulation (EU) 2024/900, Article 15
In force since .
A notice and action rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Disclosure
As of .
What it requires
- If you are a political advertising publisher, meaning a provider of political advertising service that publishes, delivers or disseminates political advertising through any medium, put in place the necessary mechanisms to enable natural or legal persons to notify you if a particular political advertisement that you have published does not comply with the Regulation (Articles 3(13) and 15(1)). An online intermediary service provided without consideration is not a political advertising service (Article 3(5)).
- Make those mechanisms free of charge, user-friendly and easy to access, including from the transparency notice, and, where technically possible, allow notifications to be made in electronic form (Article 15(2)).
- Take the necessary measures to enable and facilitate notifications that contain a substantiated explanation of why the notifier alleges that the political advertisement does not comply with the Regulation, information enabling the identification of the advertisement, and the name and email address of the notifier (Article 15(3)).
- Send the person who submitted a notification a confirmation of receipt without undue delay (Article 15(4)).
- If you are a very large online platform or a very large online search engine, examine and address the notifications you receive without undue delay in a diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner, and inform the notifier without undue delay of the follow-up given (Article 15(5)).
- If you are not a very large online platform or a very large online search engine, without undue delay make best efforts to examine and address notifications in a diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner, and inform the notifier, at least upon request, of the follow-up given; if you qualify as a micro-undertaking under Article 3(1) of Directive 2013/34/EU, make best efforts to ensure your compliance with this point (Article 15(6)).
- In the last month preceding an election or a referendum, process any notification you receive about a political advertisement linked to that election or referendum within 48 hours, provided the notification can be processed completely on the basis of the information included in it; if you qualify as a micro, small or medium-sized undertaking under Article 3(1), (2) and (3) of Directive 2013/34/EU, make best efforts to process such notifications without undue delay (Article 15(7)).
- Provide clear and user-friendly information on the possibilities for redress in respect of the political advertisement to which a notification relates and, where applicable, on the use of automated means for the processing of notifications (Article 15(8)).
- Without undue delay, inform the sponsors or providers of political advertising services concerned of any measures you take following notifications that affect the availability or the presentation of the political advertisement concerned (Article 15(9)).
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionNo
Penalty structure
Article 25(1) has Member States lay down sanctions for infringements of Articles 5 to 17, 20 and 21, and Article 25(2) sets the maximum amount of the financial penalties at 6 % of the annual income or budget of the sponsor or of the provider of political advertising services, whichever is the highest, or 6 % of the annual worldwide turnover in the preceding financial year. Article 25(5) treats infringements of Article 15 as particularly serious in the last month before an election or referendum, and Member States may also impose periodic penalty payments. The GDPR route in Article 25(6) covers Articles 18 and 19 only.
- Rule
- Turnover pct only
- As of
- Turnover percentage cap
- 6
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The competent authorities each Member State designates to supervise the compliance of providers of intermediary services within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 with Articles 7 to 17 and 21 (Article 22(3)).
What this law does
Article 15(1) requires political advertising publishers to have in place the necessary mechanisms to enable natural or legal persons to notify them if a particular political advertisement that they have published does not comply with the Regulation. Article 3(13) defines a political advertising publisher as a provider of political advertising service that publishes, delivers or disseminates political advertising through any medium.
Article 3(5) defines a political advertising service as a service consisting of political advertising, with the exception of an online intermediary service, as defined in Article 3, point (g), of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, that is provided without consideration for the preparation, placement, promotion, publication, delivery or dissemination for the specific message.
Article 15(2) requires the mechanisms to be free of charge, user-friendly and easy to access, including from the transparency notice, and, where technically possible, to allow notifications to be made in electronic form.
Article 15(3) requires the mechanisms to facilitate precise and substantiated notifications, and publishers to enable and facilitate notifications that contain a substantiated explanation of why the notifier alleges that the advertisement does not comply with the Regulation, information enabling its identification, and the notifier's name and email address.
Article 15(4) requires political advertising publishers to send a confirmation of receipt of the notification to the person who submitted it without undue delay. Article 15(5) requires a political advertising publisher that is a very large online platform or a very large online search engine to examine and address notifications without undue delay in a diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner, and to inform the notifier of the follow-up given.
Article 15(6) requires other political advertising publishers to make best efforts, without undue delay, to examine and address notifications in a diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner and to inform the notifier, at least upon request, of the follow-up given, and micro-undertakings under Article 3(1) of Directive 2013/34/EU make best efforts to ensure their compliance with that point.
Article 15(7) requires political advertising publishers, in the last month preceding an election or a referendum, to process any notification about a political advertisement linked to it within 48 hours provided the notification can be processed completely on the basis of the information included in it, and micro, small and medium-sized undertakings make best efforts to process such notifications without undue delay.
Article 15(8) requires political advertising publishers to provide clear and user-friendly information on the possibilities for redress in respect of the political advertisement to which the notification relates and, where applicable, on the use of automated means for the processing of notifications.
Article 15(9) requires political advertising publishers to inform the sponsors or providers of political advertising services concerned, without undue delay, of any measures they take following notifications that affect the availability or the presentation of the political advertisement concerned.
Article 25(1) requires Member States to lay down rules on sanctions or other measures applicable to sponsors or providers of political advertising services for infringements of Articles 5 to 17, 20 and 21, which must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.
Article 25(2) sets the maximum amount of the financial penalties at 6 % of the annual income or budget of the sponsor or of the provider of political advertising services, whichever is the highest, or 6 % of their annual worldwide turnover in the preceding financial year.
Article 25(5) provides that infringements of Article 15, among others, are considered particularly serious where they concern political advertising published or disseminated during the last month preceding an election or referendum and directed to citizens in the Member State in which it is being organised. Article 30(2) applies the Regulation from , with Article 3 and Article 5(1) applying from the date of its entry into force.
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