Co-regulatory Agreement

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Law 13/2011 of 27 May, regulating gambling, foresees the possibility of the Directorate General for Gambling Regulation signing co-regulatory agreements to help comply with the obligations set by the law, particularly regarding advertising, in the terms defined by regulations. Self-regulatory systems shall have independent monitoring bodies in place to ensure the effective implementation of the commitments made by the companies.
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The promotion of self-regulation is already reflected in Directive 84/450/EEC concerning misleading advertising, which stated that along with administrative and judicial instruments, "the voluntary control exercised by self-regulating bodies to eliminate misleading advertising may avoid recourse to administrative or judicial action and ought therefore to be encouraged". More recently, Directive 2005/29/EC concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices enabled Member States to encourage code owners to control unfair commercial practices, adding this mechanism to the administrative or legal procedures put in place to suppress unfair practices by halting or prohibiting them.
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Likewise, the Spanish General Law on Advertising, Law 34/1988 of 11 November, states that the prevailing procedural rules with regard to law enforcement and punishment of unlawful advertising (currently laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure) shall apply "without prejudice to the voluntary advertising controls self-discipline bodies may effectively carry out."
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The provision on self-regulatory agreements of Law 13/2011 has been laid down as regulation in the seventh additional provision of Royal Decree 1614/2011 of 14 November, implementing Law 13/2011 of 27 May, with regard to gambling licences, authorisations and registers, which not only contains the legal provisions laid down but also provides for the establishment of a Joint Committee to monitor the co-regulatory agreements and any complaints against them, and sets an obligation to publish all self-regulatory agreements and conduct codes on the National Committee's website.
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  • On 17 November 2011, the Directorate General for Gambling Regulation and the Advertising Self-regulatory Association (AUTOCONTROL) signed an agreement to co-regulate the advertising, sponsorship and promotion of gambling activities.
  • On 7 June 2012, the Directorate General for Gambling Regulation and the Sub-directorate General of Information Society Content (Secretary of State for Communications and for the Information Society), and the Advertising Self-regulatory Association (AUTOCONTROL) signed an agreement to set a code of conduct for gambling advertisements.
  • El 20 de noviembre de 2013 la Secretaría de la Comisión Mixta de Seguimiento del Código de Conducta sobre Comunicaciones Comerciales de las actividades de juego comunica a todos los miembros de la Comisión la posición final de la Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego en relación con la publicidad de los bonos y promociones de bienvenida. Documento con la posición de la Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego.
  • En la Comisión Mixta de Seguimiento del Código de Conducta sobre Comunicaciones Comerciales de las actividades de juego celebrada el día 14 de mayo de 2015 se aprueba por unanimidad el criterio interpretativo propuesto por la Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego en relación con el alcance de la Norma ética 8 del Código de Conducta tras el otorgamiento de licencias singulares correspondientes a nuevos juegos. Documento con el criterio interpretativo.

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Agreement appendices:
Appendix I “Representatives of companies adhered to the Gambling Advertising Code of Conduct”. List of companies.
Appendix II “Gambling Advertising Code of Conduct”.