State Regulation of the Advertising Market in the Russian Federation

<p>This paper is aimed on an analysis of governmental regulation of advertising in Russia on the current stage of market&rsquo;s development, on an analysis of its efficiency and on working out measures for improvement of advertising legislation.</p><p>Theoretical basis of the paper is works of domestic and foreign scientists and experts in the sphere of advertising that are reflecting the main trends in the development of advertising and its regulation. We used the following methods: a critical analysis of legal acts, the method of statistical analysis, quantitative and qualitative analysis. Data of the State Statistics Committee, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation, the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia, as well as media agencies and analytical centers serve as empirical basis of the work.</p><p>The paper considers the advertising market in general, the relationships between its subjects, the peculiarities of the market, an analysis of the legal framework of promotional activities, methods of its regulation.</p><p>The analysis of the advertising market of the Russian Federation showed its dependence on the overall level of economic development of the state, the level of competition between companies in different industries, the level of development of communication and social welfare. Based on the identified dependencies market forecast was made.</p><p>To identify features of the main types of advertising regulation in telecommunications every type was analyzed carefully. The result of this analysis is the list of main problems of state control for advertising. The primary problem is the absence of rules governing the different types of advertising. The second one is the absence of general principles regulating advertising on the Internet. The regulation is also obstructed by the vagueness of many rules.</p><p>To avoid these problems it is suggested adding specific rules that are directed on the regulation of Internet advertising.</p><p>The paper also contains an analysis of violations committed by telecommunication companies that seem to be the most representative advertisers. In the study a structure of violations was identified and the possible causes of each type of violation were determined. As a result all of violations were divided into two groups: intentional and unintentional.</p><p>Activities for explaining the legislative framework of market regulation and improving legal literacy of its subjects are suggested to struggle against unintentional violations. Moreover, it is offered to give an opportunity to advertisers to check their ads before distribution when self-regulatory organizations in the field of advertising would play a role of a controller.</p><p>Toughening responsibility for violations in the form of increase of penalties and acceleration of procedure for handling cases for violation of the advertising legislation would make intentional violations unprofitable for advertisers. Analysis of regulation of the FAS of handling allegations of violations of the legislation on advertising allowed revealing some steps where time costs can be shortened which would reduce deliberate violations.</p>