Regulation on the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising

Article 1 Subject matter and objectives

This Regulation establishes common standards for information disclosure and due diligence on provision of political advertising and associated services, standardises practices for using targeting and ad-delivery methods involving personal data in online political advertising, and sets up enforcement and coordination mechanisms among authorities. Editorial content and personal political speech do not qualify as political advertising unless third parties make payments for their distribution. The Regulation seeks to support the well-functioning of the market for such services and protect fundamental rights, especially privacy and data protection under the EU Charter.

Article 2 Scope

The Regulation applies to political advertisements that reach audiences in the EU, are made public in one or more Member States, or target EU residents, regardless of where the service provider is based or how the ads are distributed. It does not alter ad content or affect other EU or national laws governing political advertising aspects outside its scope, such as campaign rules, advertising bans in particular periods, or electoral rules, nor does it change the effect of specified directives and regulations on e-commerce, privacy, unfair trading, professional services, audiovisual media, consumer protection, platform obligations, and digital services.

Article 3 Definitions

A service is autonomous economic activity normally done for payment. Political advertising is material prepared, placed, promoted, published, delivered or spread by any method, typically for payment or as in-house or campaign work, by or for political actors or designed to sway election results, voting, or government processes at any governance level, excluding official voting-process information from state or EU sources, public authority information not aimed at influencing elections, and candidate presentations in legally designated public spaces given free of charge with equal access. Political actors include registered political parties and related entities, political alliances, European political parties, candidates and officeholders, certain EU and member-state officials, referendum campaign organisations, and their representatives.

Article 4 Internal Market principle

Member states may not maintain or introduce provisions diverging from this regulation on grounds of political advertising transparency. Provision of political advertising services cannot be prohibited or restricted geographically on transparency grounds when this regulation is complied with.

Article 5 Provision of political advertising services in the Union

Providers must not make services subject to discriminatory restrictions based solely on sponsor residence or establishment, and must not restrict services to european political parties or european parliament political groups solely based on establishment location. In the three months before an election or referendum at union or member state level, political advertising services for that election or referendum may only be provided to sponsors who are union citizens, third-country nationals permanently residing in the union with voting rights, or union-established legal persons not ultimately owned or controlled by third-country nationals (except those with voting rights), unless stricter national rules apply.

Article 6 Transparency and due diligence obligations for political advertising services

Providers must provide political advertising services transparently according to specified obligations in the regulation. Contractual arrangements must enable compliance with relevant provisions, including allocation of responsibility and requirements for information completeness and accuracy.

Article 7 Identification of political advertising services

Advertising service providers must ask sponsors to declare whether their requested service is political advertising and whether they meet exemption requirements, with sponsors responsible for truthful and accurate declarations. Political advertising service providers must ensure contracts require sponsors to provide declarations and information necessary for compliance with transparency and record-keeping obligations, transmitted completely and promptly. Sponsors must provide and verify the accuracy of specified information before or during publication, update it promptly if changed, and inform publishers of any incomplete or inaccurate information without delay.

Article 8 Identification of a political advertisement

To determine whether a message is political advertising, all its features must be considered: the content, sponsor, language, context including dissemination period, means of preparation and dissemination, target audience, and objective. The Commission shall prepare common guidance for proper application of these identification rules.

Article 9 Record-keeping

Political advertising service providers must retain information about the political advertisement or campaign, the services provided, amounts and other benefits invoiced, the origin of funds and whether from inside or outside the Union, the sponsor's identity and details including the ultimately controlling entity, and any linked election, referendum, or legislative process. Providers must make reasonable efforts to ensure information is complete and accurate, retain it in written or electronic form in machine-readable format for seven years from last dissemination. Micro-undertakings with advertising as a purely marginal and ancillary activity are exempt.

Article 10 Transmission of information to the political advertising publisher

Political advertising service providers must transmit record-keeping information to publishers timely, completely and accurately during service provision using standardized automated processes where technically possible and consistent with best practice and industry standards; when the publisher is the only provider, the sponsor transmits directly. Providers must transmit updated information to publishers when transmitted information changes.

Article 11 Labelling and transparency requirements for each political advertisement

Publishers must present each political ad with easily visible, clear and unambiguous marking and details: a statement it is political advertising, the sponsor identity and ultimate controlling entity where known, links to any election or regulatory matter involved, notice if targeting or optimisation techniques applied, and either a transparency document or a clear pointer to where it can be found. Publishers must verify completeness and accuracy of information about where transparency documents are accessible. Labels must be adapted to the medium, visually distinct, allow easy recognition of ads, and persist if ads are re-shared.

Article 12 Transparency notices

Political advertising publishers must include transparency notices with sponsor and controlling entity identity, remuneration provider details, publication period, aggregated amounts and value of benefits received, public or private and Union or non-Union origin, calculation methodology, linked elections or referendums, complaint mechanisms, prior suspension or discontinuation history, statement on data-driven targeting or delivery, and reach in views and engagements if applicable and technically feasible. Publishers must ensure information is complete and accurate before and during publication, and when service providers or publishers discover incompleteness or inaccuracy must contact each other without undue delay to complete or correct it, or the publisher must withdraw the advertisement or discontinue dissemination; publishers must retain notices and modifications for seven years after final publication, except micro-undertakings whose advertising provision is marginal to their main business. The Commission may issue delegated acts to expand required information and adjust requirements based on technological change, market evolution, scientific findings and enforcement experience, and by 10 July 2025 must issue implementing acts setting technical format and specifications for notices suited to different media and accounting for technological progress, market trends and small business situations.

Article 13 European repository for online political advertisements

The Commission must establish a public European repository providing machine-readable access to all online political advertisements in the Union, searchable through a single portal and archived for seven years after last presentation. Very large platforms and search engines must ensure their advertisements are in their own repository and accessible through the European repository from publication onwards, while other online publishers must submit advertisements within 72 hours of first publication. The Commission and any management authority have no liability for completeness, accuracy or legal compliance of advertisements in the repository and must adopt implementing acts by 10 April 2026 establishing common data structures, standardised metadata, authentication methods and a shared application programming interface.

Article 14 Periodic reporting on political advertising services

Political advertising publishers must report to their management the amounts or value of other benefits received for services, including on targeting and ad-delivery techniques, aggregated by campaign, and make this available to relevant national supervisory authorities. Micro, small and medium-sized undertakings are exempt from this reporting requirement.

Article 15 Indicating possibly non-compliant political advertisements

Publishers must establish free, user-friendly mechanisms enabling public notification of potentially non-compliant advertisements, with electronic submission available where technically possible; notifications must include substantiated explanation and identification details; very large platforms must examine notifications diligently and inform submitters of follow-up, while other publishers must make best efforts. Publishers must confirm receipt without undue delay, provide clear information on redress options and automated processing use, and inform sponsors or service providers without undue delay of measures affecting advertisement availability; they may respond to multiple notifications collectively or through announcements. The Commission may issue guidelines after consulting national contact points.

Article 16 Transmission of information to national competent authorities

National competent authorities may demand that providers of political advertising services furnish information to verify compliance with specified articles, which must be complete, accurate, trustworthy, clear and intelligible, and in standardised machine-readable format where technically feasible. Requests must contain a statement of reasons and information on available redress, unless the objective is preventing or prosecuting criminal or serious administrative offences. Providers must acknowledge receipt within two working days and supply information within eight working days, or twelve working days for micro, small or medium-sized undertakings; in the month before an election or referendum, all providers must respond within 48 hours, or before the election date if they are micro or small undertakings.

Article 17 Transmission of information to other interested entities

Upon request, providers of political advertising services must promptly transmit free of charge the information they are required to hold, in machine-readable format where technically possible, to interested entities including vetted researchers, civil society organisations serving the public interest, political actors, electoral observers and journalists. Providers may refuse manifestly unclear or excessive requests or those concerning information not in their possession, and must send reasoned responses with redress information. Providers may charge a reasonable fee not exceeding administrative costs for significant processing, aggregate amounts or use ranges to protect commercial interests, and must demonstrate that requests are problematic.

Article 18 Specific requirements related to targeting techniques and ad-delivery techniques in the context of online political advertising

Targeting or ad-delivery involving personal data is permitted only when the controller collected the data from the data subject, the subject gave explicit consent for political advertising separately, and the techniques do not involve profiling using special categories of personal data. Targeting of individuals known with reasonable certainty to be less than one year below voting age is prohibited, without requiring controllers to process additional data for age verification. Communications from political parties or non-profit bodies to their members or subscribers using only subscription data are exempt.

Article 19 Additional transparency requirements related to targeting techniques and ad-delivery techniques in the context of online political advertising

Controllers using targeting or ad-delivery with personal data must adopt, publish and retain for seven years a clear internal policy; maintain records of techniques, mechanisms and parameters; provide recipients with logic information on targeted groups, personal data categories, targeting goals, artificial intelligence use, dissemination period and recipient numbers; conduct and publicly share annual risk assessments of fundamental rights impacts; and provide information on rights to amend data or withdraw consent with an interface for exercising these rights. Controllers must require publishers to receive this information in timely, accurate, standardised and automated form where technically possible. Providers of political advertising services must transmit to controllers the information necessary for compliance, in easily accessible, user-friendly, plain language and machine-readable format where technically feasible.

Article 20 Transmission of information concerning the targeting or ad delivery of online political advertisements to other interested entities

Controllers must take appropriate measures to transmit targeting and ad-delivery information to interested entities upon request and free of charge.

Article 21 Legal representative

Non-Union service providers offering political advertising in the Union must appoint a legal representative in a Member State where they operate, who registers with the competent authority and provides contact details in machine-readable format. The legal representative bears responsibility for ensuring compliance with the regulation alongside the service provider, receives all official communications, and must be given sufficient powers and resources to cooperate with authorities. Member States maintain public, machine-readable registers of legal representatives, with the Commission linking to these registers in a central portal.

Article 22 Competent authorities and contact points

Data protection authorities supervise transparency and targeting requirements using GDPR powers; the European Data Protection Board may prepare guidelines. Member States designate competent authorities to oversee intermediary service providers' compliance with transparency, identification and restrictions obligations using Digital Services Act-equivalent powers, and independent competent authorities to enforce other aspects with powers to request data, issue warnings, order cessation of violations, impose fines or penalties, publish identifying statements, and conduct premises inspections. Member States must ensure competent authorities have adequate resources and establish effective coordination to exchange information on violations.

Article 23 Cross-border cooperation

Providers' compliance is subject to their Member State of establishment or main establishment if operating in multiple Member States. Competent authorities must assist each other with supervision and enforcement within one month and share information within 14 days, extendable to one month for complex investigations; when an authority suspects an infringement, it notifies the provider's main establishment authority, which must assess and take necessary measures, may request additional information (suspending the one-month assessment deadline), and must communicate its assessment to the notifying authority and national contact points within one month. For investigations involving political advertising in Member States where the provider lacks main establishment, the main establishment authority may lead a joint investigation on its own initiative with other authorities' agreement or following their request if it suspects infringement, with all parties cooperating in good faith and informing each other of enforcement measures.

Article 24 Right to lodge a complaint

Competent authorities must properly address all notifications of suspected breaches and, if requested, inform the complainant of follow-up actions; notifications about elections or referendums during the final month before those events must be handled without undue delay. Authorities must promptly forward complaints outside their jurisdiction to the appropriate authority in another Member State.

Article 25 Sanctions

Member States must establish rules on sanctions for sponsors and political advertising providers breaching articles 5 to 17, 20 and 21, ensuring they are effective, proportionate, and dissuasive whilst respecting press freedom and journalist codes. Financial penalties must not exceed 6 percent of annual income or budget (whichever is highest) or 6 percent of annual worldwide turnover from the preceding year. Authorities must notify the Commission of these rules by 10 January 2026 and of any later changes.

Article 26 Publication of dates of elections and referendums

Member States must publish election and referendum dates, and where relevant their electoral periods, in an accessible location with reference to this regulation. The Commission shall maintain a publicly available portal where Member States provide election and referendum dates immediately after announcement.

Article 27 Evaluation and review

Within two years after each European Parliament election, the Commission must submit a public report to the Parliament and Council evaluating and reviewing the regulation and assessing whether amendments are needed, including regarding scope and definition of political advertising, effectiveness of transparency and targeting restrictions, supervision and enforcement structures, sanctions, impacts on small and medium enterprises, technological developments, interaction with other EU laws, and the development of the European repository.

Article 28 Exercise of the delegation

The Commission holds delegated power under articles 12(6) and 19(5) for four years from 9 April 2024, with automatic extension for identical periods unless the Parliament or Council objects within three months before expiry; either body may revoke the delegation at any time. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission must consult Member State experts; acts take effect only if neither the Parliament nor the Council objects within two months of notification, or if both have stated they will not object; this period may be extended by two months at either body's initiative.

Article 29 Committee procedure

A committee shall assist the Commission under regulation (EU) No 182/2011, with article 5 of that regulation applying to its work.

Article 30 Entry into force and application