Yerokhina N. Administrative and legal regulation of advertising activity in Ukraine: theory and judicial practice

The thesis represents a theoretical generalisation and a new solution to the scientific problem that is studying the key aspects of the theory and practice of administrative legal regulation of advertising in light of the most progressive accomplishments of the administrative legal studies, modern trends in application of law and the relevant best foreign experience, as a result of which conceptual measures for improving the legal and institutional foundations of administrative legal regulation of advertising. In particular, the author proposes replacing the permissive procedure for the placement of outdoor advertising provided by the law of Ukraine with combining notification and permissive procedures in manner corresponding to the nature of particular advertisement defined according to the criteria and restrictive provisions laid out with the maximum detail in the law (according to the model implemented in the United Kingdom). Alternatively, pure notification procedure could be used in accordance with the procedure, which provides that the advertisement distributors serve authorized authorities with notices about the placement of advertising with a declaration of compliance with the requirements established by the law, as well as with a information about the period and location of the advertisement and with confirmation of the payment of the fee for the first month of placement of the advertisement and a description of the advertisement in an arbitrary form, after which the authorized authority can issue mandatory written motivated comments to the provided materials that prevent the placement of advertising until the relevant deficiencies are eliminated, or can through tacit consent confirm the lawfulness of the placement of advertising on the conditions set out in the notice (following the example of Kazakhstan). Also, the dissertation substantiates the recommendation to eliminate the duplication of control and repressive powers of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection and the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine, which are related to the consideration of cases relating to advertisements with incomplete, inaccurate and unreliable information, which is deemed unfair advertising under The Law of Ukraine "On Advertising" and classified as misleading information dissemination in the Law of Ukraine "On Protection from Unfair Competition", by confirming the exclusive competence of for the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection to consider cases of unfair advertising.