Spain’s Supreme Tribunal annuls Royal Decree postponement order

Added: March 10, 2021

Spain’s ‘Royal Decree of Advertising’ will apparently not be postponed or altered as the country’s Supreme Tribunal nullified a ruling that was initially brought up by the ‘Asociación de Medios de Información’, which is Spain’s media trade union.

Last Friday, the country’s Supreme Tribunal’s chamber of commercial disputes stated that it will be refusing the union’s call to delaying the May 1st implementation of the blanket ban on all gambling ads. The ban was supposed to be imposed on all forms of traditional media, including TV, press and radio.

The AMI had stated that the country’s traditional broadcast bearers had already had a penalty imposed on them by what they called a ‘discriminatory timetable’, since online competitors were to be provided until the 1st of August to adhere to Spain’s new rules.

Furthermore, the union has also asked that the local Ministry of Consumer Affairs goes over the dates of imposition, since the broadcasters have been facing economic uncertainties which makes them miss out on some important programming for the Tokyo Olympics and the 2021 UEFA Championships. The chamber said on Friday that it has decided not to pass on AMI’s order to the Supreme Tribunal since the appeal did not account for the postponement of the enforcement of the Federal ruling in the country’s 17 autonomous areas.

Aside from that, the chamber also noted that the union’s entire focus was on the economic repercussions caused by the Royal Decree. It also said that the decree alterations concerning economic and commercial changes were to be undertaken by all public stakeholders even outside of sports programming, which meant that AMI’s ruling had no reason or purpose to be passed on to the court.

The chamber stated:

“It is a general provision that must be complied with by all those affected, whose validity cannot be questioned based on interests other than those of the public interest.”