Outside continuously built-up areas, billboards near roads have been banned since 2017. However, some companies have found a loophole in the law that allows them to continue using an illegally placed advertising space. The amendment to the Road Act now gives municipalities and regions a new tool to counter these practices.

According to the current rules, in the case of suspicion of illegally placed advertising, an administrative procedure is first initiated, which takes an average of four to eight weeks, followed by a notice to remove the billboard. Owners of illegally placed advertising space, who receive a notice to remove them, wait until the last day of the deadline for removal before moving the advertising equipment to another property.

The relevant road authority must then restart the lengthy process of identifying the owner, including notices to remove the advertising space and the relevant deadlines. The owner of the advertising space can repeat the entire procedure and in the meantime collect the remuneration for providing the advertising space. All this is often done without the knowledge of the advertising client, who does not assume that it is an illegal practice.

The new rules reverse the entire process. If the owner of a road, most often a municipality or county, discovers an illegally placed billboard on its property, it is obliged to take action and remove and store the illegal billboard without further delay. Only then is the owner notified and the three-month period for collecting the advertising device begins.

For the past six years, it has been forbidden to place advertising at third- and second-class roads within 15 metres of the carriageway, on first-class roads within 50 metres and on motorways within 250 metres. Most of the billboards were removed from the roads after the ban came into force. However, the Department of Transportation is now targeting the remaining ones, which are placed in conflict with the law. In general, therefore, the current amendment aims to streamline the enforcement of the rules already in place and thus ensure safer driving for drivers without advertising smog.

Author: Veronika Odrobinová, Matyáš Hlaváček