Bußgelder wegen Verstößen gegen Offenlegungspflichten bei politischer Werbung

Definition

ACMA’s May 2023 guidelines explain that political matter, election matter and election advertisements are embedded as licence conditions in Schedule 2 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, including requirements to broadcast specified ‘required particulars’ (name of authorising entity, locality, speakers) and to comply with election advertising rules.[3][4][5][9] Breaches of licence conditions expose a licensee to ACMA enforcement, including remedial directions, licence conditions, suspension and civil penalties under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992.[9] While ACMA does not publish a fixed tariff per breach, comparable ACMA advertising and captioning investigations have resulted in civil penalties and enforceable undertakings in the tens of thousands of dollars range (logic extrapolation from ACMA’s general enforcement powers). Given that political parties spend millions of dollars per federal election on advertising, even a 0.5–1% segment of spots containing defective or missing authorisation tags can translate into dozens of non‑compliant broadcasts.[4] If ACMA were to pursue penalties at a conservative AUD 10,000–50,000 per investigated breach or negotiated outcome, a medium‑size network could face AUD 100,000–250,000+ in exposure for a single election cycle where controls are weak (logic).

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Radio and TV broadcasters in Australia 🇦🇺 risk tens of thousands of AUD per breach on political advertising disclosure and timing rules. Automation of ad tagging, authorisation capture and schedule controls eliminates this penalty exposure.

Affected Stakeholders

Compliance Manager, Broadcast Operations Manager, Traffic/Playout Scheduling Teams, Sales and Inventory Management, Legal Counsel, Station Licence Holder / Director

Related Business Risks