R U L E S O F P R O C E D U R E
of Arbitral Committee of the Advertising Board
(The wording approved by the General Meeting of the Advertising Board on 28th November, 2006)
I.
Arbitral Committee
(1) The Arbitral Committee of the Advertising Board (hereinafter referred to as “Committee“) is an independent body deciding on behalf of the Advertising Board (hereinafter referred to as “Board“) on complaints of advertisement and on compliance or conflict with the given advertisement with Ethic Principles of Advertising Practise valid on the territory of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as “Code”). The Committee assesses also requests for issuance of attest of advertisement proposals. To such assessment of advertisement special provisions on attest shall be applied and reasonably also provisions on arbitration award.
(2) The Committee is responsible for observation of the Rules of Procedure to the General Meeting of the Advertising Board.
II.
Membership establishment and expiry
(1) The member of the Committee may be a natural person who achieved the age of 25 years, who is respectable and who identifies with the Code principles. The Committee consists of minimum seven members elected by the General Meeting of the Board upon the proposals of the Presidium.
(2) Membership in the Committee expires by the date of delivery of the notice on stepping down of the member to the Board or by the date of decision by the General Meeting of the Board on recall of the Committee member. The proposal for the recall of the Committee member may be submitted by any Board member.
(3) If the Committee member fails to participate in the Committee session three times consecutively, his/her membership in the Committee expires by the date of holding the third session of the Committee in the order. The termination of the membership in the Committee shall be notified to the member and the Chairman of the Committee by the President of the Board. The President of the Board is entitled to grant an exception from the rule in a particular case.
(4) The membership in the Committee is an honorary function.
(5) The Committee members elect and recall the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Committee in secret election from among the members by the absolute majority of votes of all Committee members.
III.
Method of negotiation
(1) The Executive Manager of the Board calls the Committee and its negotiation is led by the Chairman of the Committee. The negotiation of the Committee is a closed session. Besides the members of the Committee, the Executive Manager usually participates in the session as well as the President of the Board and besides them the representatives of the parties concerned may take part in compliance with the provisions of these Rules of Procedure.
(2) The Committee assesses advertisements upon a written suggestion of the claimant (letter, electronic mail, fax report), suggestion of the Board or complaint forwarded to the Board of other entities. Such suggestion may be submitted by every legal or natural person except for natural persons who are the members of the Committee. In case the claimant is a natural person (or natural persons) the documents for the Committee session shall not contain the name or address of a person, just the district from which the claimant comes from. In case of a legal person, the documents contain all information on the claimant.
(3) The Committee decides also on written suggestions addressed to other persons if those persons forward the suggestion to the Board.
(4) At assessment of individual complaints, the Committee considers the materials which are to be processed by the Board secretariat and which contain the opinions of the aggrieved parties delivered to the Board and its recommendations. If the Committee decides to supplement the materials of the secretariat, they may do so. If it is necessary to be aware of an opinion of the qualified experts from the given field for the definite issuance of the awaed, the Committee or its Chairman shall assign the secretariat with the provision of such expert opinion. The Committee shall deal with the matter again in its closest session after the opinion delivery.
(5) The Chairman of the Committee or the Committee may decide on the invitation of the claimant and/or the aggrieved party by the complaint (hereinafter referred to as “Aggrieved Party“) to the Committee session. In case the Aggrieved Party with sufficient advance / 3 working days / requires the participation in the Committee session, they shall be invited to the session. The Board secretariat in such case shall notify the invited in advance in writing of the term and venue of the Committee session. The Aggrieved Party and the claimant (hereinafter referred to as “Parties Concerned“) are entitled to make opinion to the complaint negotiated and to answer the questions of the Committee members. The secretariat of the Board shall invite the Party Concerned to send a written opinion of the complaint within 7 working days. The Party Concerned may participate in the Committee session in person or via a representative. The representative of the Party Concerned who is not its statutory representative and/or his/her working tasks usually do not include marketing activities of the Party Concerned, shall prove his/her authorization to represent via a written power of attorney. The Chairman of the Committee or the Committee may decide on the participation of several participants of one Party Concerned. The apology of absence of the Party Concerned in the Committee session is not a reason for postponing the session, unless the Committee decides otherwise in extraordinary cases. The Chairman of the Committee cares for the creation of the same conditions for the Parties Concerned.
(6) The Committee is quorate if two-third majority (2/3) of all its members is present in the session. The Committee member who is excluded from voting due to reasons pursuant to Article VII of these Rules of Procedure shall be considered present for the purposes of quorum. The Committee decides via voting. Every member of the Committee has one vote. The members vote by hand lifting. The Executive Manager of the Board is a scrutineer. In order to adopt a decision the absolute majority of votes of the present members are required. In case of equality of votes, the vote of the Chairman of the Committee is decisive, in case of his absence it is a vote of the Deputy Chairman of the Committee or the member of the Committee assigned with leading the session. Abstaining from voting of any present members of the Committee has no influence on eventual loss of its quorum.
(7) The Committee shall assess the advertisement pursuant to all provisions of the Code. The Chairman of the Committee may exclude the advertisement from negotiation on which the Committee has already decided. The procedural facts which are not adjusted in these Rules of Procedure, Board regulations, Code and valid legal regulations, shall be decided on by the Chairman of the Committee. The Chairman of the Committee at the time of his/her absence shall be represented by the Deputy Chairman of the Committee or by the Committee member assigned by the Chairman who is authorized to perform all powers of the Chairman of the Committee. There is no legal remedy against the decision of the Committee. This, however, does not affect the right for legal protection pursuant to Art. 15 of Act No. 83/1990 Coll. on Association of Citizens as amended.
(8) The Committee or its Chairman may decide on the negotiation of several complaints in common proceedings.
IV.
Award
(1) Award means for the purposes of these Rules of Procedure a written reasoned decision of the Committee about the fact whether a particular advertisement implemented in the past or at present is or is not in conflict with the Code.
(2) The Committee decides by voting about the fact whether the advertisement for which the complaint was submitted is in conflict with the Code. In case the Committee fails to express consent with the claimant by the absolute majority of votes, the advertisement shall not be in conflict with the Code. The record shall be made about the decision of the Committee serving as a document for the award elaboration.
(3) After the Committee decision, the secretariat shall notify this decision, upon the record of decision, in the form of a short notice to the Parties Concerned. The notice on the decision of the Committee shall be published by the secretariat on the website of the Board.
(4) At the Committee negotiation, upon the request for attest issuance, the Committee decides by voting about the fact whether the assessed advertisement is in compliance with the Code. In case the Committee fails to come to the decision on compliance by the absolute majority of votes, the assessed advertisement is not in compliance with the Code.
(5) The award of the Committee shall be issued in writing and signed by the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, or the Committee member assigned by the Chairman.
V.
Award publishing
(1) After the award issuance, the secretariat shall deliver its copies to the Parties Concerned. In case of award on the Code breach, they shall invite the Aggrieved Party to change the assessed advertisement or to prevent its further dissemination.
(2) The secretariat shall concurrently publish the award on the website of the Board and provide it to media. In cases natural person or natural persons are a claimant, neither their names, nor their addresses, just the district from which the claimant comes shall be published. In cases the claimant is a legal person, the full name and the registered office of the claimant shall be stated.
VI.
Attest
(1) Attest for the purposes hereof means a written reasoned decision of the Committee about the fact whether the particular advertisement proposal which has not been published yet in a communication medium, is or is not in compliance with the Code.
(2) The Committee decides by voting about the fact whether the advertisement proposal submitted by the applicant for attest is in compliance with the Code. In case the Committee fails to express consent with the advertisement proposal by the absolute majority of votes, the advertisement is not in compliance with the Code.
(3) The customer of the advertisement may require the opinion, directly or via an advertising agency. The attest is charged and in case expert opinions are required for the attest assessment, the customer is obliged to bear also additional expenditures related to the acquisition of such opinion after their previous consent.
(4) The opinions are elaborated only in relation to the valid ethic Code of advertisement.
(5) In case the Committee issues a positive attest (the advertisement proposal is in conflict with the Code), the secretariat of the Board shall notify this reality to the customer while this information shall serve only to the customer and shall not be published with other decisions of the Committee. In case of publishing such advertisement, the customer shall bear all eventual related consequences. In case the secretariat of the Board receives a complaint for the advertisement with which an attest was issued, the Committee shall deal with it as with a new suggestion and if it is an identical advertisement published in the same way as it was stated in the proposal, the Committee shall issue an award in compliance with its previous decision.
(6) In case the Committee issues the negative attest (the advertisement proposal is not in conflict with the Code), the secretariat of the Board shall inform a customer. If the secretariat of the Board receives a complaint for the assessed advertisement, the Committee shall deal with it as with a new suggestion while it shall consider the place and other circumstances of the advertisement publishing. If it is identical advertisement published in the same way as it was stated in the proposal, the Committee shall issue an award in compliance with its previous decision.
(7) Attests of the Committee shall be delivered to the applicant after issuance and they shall not be published without his/her consent.
VII.
Conflict of interests
In case the Committee negotiates the complaint at which the Committee member is in conflict of interests, such member is obliged to notify the Chairman of the Committee of this fact. In such case, the member is obliged to leave the meeting room up to the moment when the complaint in question is decided on. In case the Committee member fails to notify of the conflict of interests related to him/her, the Chairman of the Committee may, after detection of facts proving the conflict of interests, declare the award invalid and to decide on new voting without the presence of the member concerned. This new voting shall be considered a valid decision by the Committee. Concurrently, the Chairman of the Committee shall inform the President of the Board about the whole case.
VII.
Final provisions
(1) The changes hereof shall be approved by the General Meeting of the Board.
(2) This wording of the Rules of Procedure was approved by the General Meeting on 28th November, 2006 and comes into effect by 1st January, 2007.