CONDITIONS AND CONTENTS OF DRUG ADVERTISING ON TELEVISION

The current state of rampant drug advertising on the mass media is increasingly dense, but most of the conditions for being allowed to advertise drugs and advertising content do not meet the provisions of the laws on advertising (unauthorized advertising). To avoid the situation that drug advertising units make false advertising when performing advertising activities, it is necessary to understand the conditions and content of drug advertising on television.

Legal grounds:

Consolidated document No. 47/VBHN-VPQH 2018 on the Law on Advertising;

Circular 09/2015/ TT-BYT.

1. Conditions for advertising drugs on television

- Firstly, the advertising unit must satisfy the general conditions for drug advertising as prescribed in Article 4 of Circular 09/2015/TT-BYT as follows:

(i) The advertising content must ensure compliance with the provisions of the law on advertising, without prohibited acts specified in Article 8 of the Consolidated Document No. 47/VBHN-VPQH 2018 on the Law on Advertising (“Consolidated document No. 47").

(ii) The voice, writing, and images in the advertisement must be concise, common, and consistent with the provisions of Article 18 of the Consolidated document No. 47. The smallest font size in the advertisement content must ensure the ratio should be large enough to be readable under normal conditions and should not be smaller than the scale equivalent of the Vntime or Times New Roman 12 font size on A4 paper.

- Secondly, the conditions for certification of drug advertisement contents: the conditions specified at point a clause 4 Article 20 of the Consolidated document No. 47 and other specific regulations must be satisfied as follows:

(i) Drugs allowed to be advertised as prescribed in clause 1 Article 1 of Circular 09/2015/TT-BYT include:

• Drugs on the list of non-prescription drugs and not recommended by a competent state agency to be used or used under the supervision of a physician (clause 5 Article 7 of the Consolidated document No. 47);

• In case of advertising drugs in audio and video newspapers, the drugs must contain the main active ingredients on the list of active ingredients of drugs and herbal ingredients advertised in audio and video newspapers as prescribed in Appendix 02 issued with this Circular 09/2015/TT-BYT.

(ii) The drug has been issued with a valid circulation registration number in Vietnam and the drug instruction sheet has been approved by the Ministry of Health;

(iii) Drug advertising units must provide sufficient documents as prescribed in Article 14 of Circular 09/2015/TT-BYT:

• The application is made into 1 set, including the following papers:

 A written request for certification of advertisement contents as prescribed in Appendix 01 issued with this Circular;

 The business registration certificate of the enterprise or the license to establish a representative office of the foreign trader;

 Contents of request for endorsement of television advertising: 1 recording of expected advertising content in video discs, audio discs, floppy files, enclosed with 03 proposed advertising scenarios, that clearly describing the content of the advertisement, media to be advertised, the image part (for photojournalism), the lyrics, the music part;

 A sample of a product label or a sample of a product label that has been approved by a competent health authority in cases where the law requires that the product label be approved by a competent health authority.

 The drug instruction sheet has been approved by the Drug Administration of Vietnam - Ministry of Health.

 The product circulation permit is issued by the Drug Administration of Vietnam or the decision on granting drug registration numbers at the Drug Administration of Vietnam.

(iv) The unit requesting certification of advertising content in the unit named on the product registration certificate or the representative office in Vietnam of the unit named on the product registration certificate. products or a legal entity authorized in writing by the unit named on the product registration certificate.

2. What regulations must the advertising unit comply with about drug advertising content?

- The contents of a television advertisement must fully satisfy the following information:

(i) Drug advertisements in audio and video newspapers must clearly show the indications, contraindications, or recommendations for special subjects so that listeners and viewers can hear or read completely, clearly;

(ii) Advertising on electronic newspapers, websites, and advertising screens:

• Advertising content with sound: must have the same information as in audio and video newspapers;

• Advertising content without sound: must have information such as on books, newspapers, magazines, leaflets.

(iii) In case there are many advertising pages/scenes, the advertising pages/scenes must appear consecutively, stopping enough time for viewers to read all the information displayed on the page; Pages, scenes with product information content must be stationary, do not move so that readers can learn more about product information.

(iv) Indications not included in drug advertisement: Indications for treatment of viral hepatitis, emerging unknown diseases.

(v) Information and images not used in drug advertising include:

• Over-describing the medical condition or the use of the drug;

• Pictures of animals and plants on the list of animals and plants that need to be conserved;

• Information, images create understanding: use this drug without consulting a doctor; Using this drug is completely harmless, no side effects, no contraindications, 100% effectiveness guaranteed.

ADK & Co Vietnam Lawyers Law Firm