On 19 April 2011, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted a draft law introducing changes to article 21 of the law of Ukraine on Advertising.
This draft law amends the existing Ukrainian law on advertising, by introducing an additional requirement as to the content of advertisements for medicines, medical equipment, and methods of treatment and diagnosis.
According to the newly adopted draft law, any public advertisement of medicines must also contain the specific warning "self-treatment can be harmful for health". Moreover, this warning should cover at least fifteen percent of the square or duration of the advertisement.
The existing wording of the law on advertising provides that the advertisement of medicines should contain impartial information about the medicine and should clearly state (i) that the information which is being communicated is an advertisement, (ii) that the advertised product is a medicine, (iii) that it is recommended that a doctor be consulted prior to the use of the medicine and (iv) that the leaflet enclosed with the medicine should be studied before use of the medicine.
The new draft law has yet to be signed in to law by the Ukrainian President and is scheduled to become effective three months after the date of its official publication, but if it does become effective in its current form the new draft law will expand the list of requirements in relation to the advertisement of medicines.
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The original publication date for this article was 26/04/2011.