Out-Law News Lesedauer: 2 Min.

All eyes on Netherlands elections as new EU political advert rules take effect

Dutch voters go back to the polls on 29 October. Pierre Crom/Getty Images.


The forthcoming elections in the Netherlands will offer Europe a chance to see the impact new political advertising regulations will have across the continent.

EU regulations on transparency and targeting of political advertising came into effect on 10 October, with strict new rules around how adverts are displayed and where – particularly on online platforms.

Guidance on how to implement the new rules (48-page / 395KB PDF) was issued by the Commission just two days prior to them kicking in, with major platforms already restricting – or in some cases even banning – their political ad content in response. And with a host of elections in European states next year, the Dutch general election on 29 October will provide the first significant test of the new rules.

Thijs Kelder, with Pinsent Masons in Amsterdam, said organisations in the country needed to be careful and ensure their compliance policies were up to date to avoid falling foul of the new restrictions – particularly with regards to how to navigate the relationship with other relevant European legislation.

“Anyone looking to run adverts must identify their compliance obligations – but also realise it also has an impact on their Digital Services Act compliance requirements as well,” he said.

“Making sure that their ads are complaint with both risks putting advertisers in a double bind, and we can expect a lot of scrutiny over advertisements with this election in particular given it is the first full ballot to happen since the regulations were enacted.”

The data protection authority in the Netherlands, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, has already written to the country’s political parties to advise them of the new changes, and opened a public consultation on rules for targeted political ads.

Regulation of the rules is being split in the Netherlands between the AP, which will cover targeted online political advertising where personal data is processed, and the country’s media authority, which will handle transparency issues.

“It will create an extra layer of complexity, as different regulators have different approaches on enforcement, which will also add to the challenge of navigating a way through the new rules for advertisers,” warned Kelder.

The new rules, which the commission says are designed to improve transparency over political campaigns, mean paid or targeted political advertisements must be labelled as such and provide specific information about them – including who paid for them and how much, what vote they’re tied to and how they’ve been targeted.

Targeting advertisements online also face stricter conditions, requiring separate opt-ins from users for political targeting, and blocks on using personal data around race or ethnicity in profiling. 

The rules also ban ads from third country sponsors in an election or referendum in any EU member state, in a bid to prevent foreign interference in the democratic process.

But while the Commission has insisted it is not restricting advertising, just enforcing greater transparency, the major technology platforms have responded by removing all campaigns from their EU presences.

Meta announced it was pulling all political and social issue advertising in Europe as a result of the new rules, while Google said when they were announced that the laws were too broad – and removed all European content from their political advertising library, to the concern of information campaigners.

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