knowledge 27 October 2026 |

Coimisiún na Meán’s draft Commercial Communications Code – What’s new?

Current Codes

Commercial communications are currently primarily regulated by four separate documents (the “Codes and Rules”). They are:

• General Commercial Communications Code (Radio and Television Broadcasters) (“General Code”);
• Children’s Commercial Communications Code (Radio and Television Broadcasters) (“Children’s Code”);
• Media Service Code and Media Service Rules - Advertising (Radio Broadcasters); and
• Media Service Code and Media Service Rules - Advertising, Teleshopping, Signal Integrity & Information.

The Draft amalgamates the Codes and Rules into one simplified, consolidated document, which reformats the existing framework into a more comprehensible regime.

Specific Protections for Children

A primary focus of the Draft is the safety and well-being of children. The most significant change in this regard is the removal of the age differentiation principle in the Children’s Code. This principle divides children into three age categories, reflecting the needs of children under 6 years of age, under 13 years of age and under 15 years of age. This tiered framework is often a source of confusion for broadcasters and it has been replaced in the Draft with a single set of rules for all children under 18.

In practice, this change extends several protections to older children. For example, under the Draft, the prohibitions on health and nutrition claims and promotional offers in children’s advertising for food high in fat, salt or sugar (“HFSS”), which currently apply only to under 13s, apply to all children under 18.

Other notable changes relating to advertising to children include:

• Cheese: The Draft introduces new requirements in relation to the promotion of cheese products to children. It is proposed that commercial communications which promote cheese must carry the message “Children should consume no more than a small matchbox size piece of cheese a day and lower fat choices are more suitable”. However, it is worth noting that cheese is exempt from the HFSS restrictions on children’s advertising (this exemption does not extend to HFSS products which contain cheese as an ingredient).
• Toys: Under the Draft, the threshold above which the price of a toy must be stated in children’s advertising is increased from €30 to €50. This now applies to all children, not just those under 15 years of age.
• Confectionery: The Draft amends the definition of ‘confectionery’ to refer expressly to sweets, chocolates and sugar-based products, and the current exception for water is narrowed to carbonated non-flavoured water.
• Violence: The Draft proposes that violence in children’s advertising would be permitted only where necessary as part of a public service message, removing the existing exception permitting violence for the purpose of demonstrating a product.

Some existing protections in the Children’s Code, including the rule against asking children to submit private information about themselves, their family or friends, have not been carried over into the Draft. These changes reflect An Coimisiún’s wider aim of producing a shorter and more user-friendly set of rules for broadcasters.

Alcohol-Free Products and Nicotine Pouches

The Draft introduces two new product-specific rules aimed at protecting children. Advertising for alcohol-free products (0.5% AbV or less and including alcohol-free variants of alcohol brands) must not appeal to or target children and must not be broadcast in or around children’s programming. Advertising for nicotine pouches, including synthetic nicotine, is subject to a similar restriction, although it is framed more narrowly as applying “during” children’s programming only.

The existing rules on alcohol advertising, including the ban on advertising spirits of 25% AbV or more and the cap of 25% of sold advertising time, are largely carried over. Scheduling is left to the broadcast watershed under the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018. However, the existing obligation for broadcasters to publish a list of programmes carrying alcohol advertising has been dropped.

Other Key Changes

Other notable changes include:

Misleading advertising: Misleading commercial communications are now expressly prohibited under the Draft. A new definition is inserted which focuses on whether an advertisement deceives its audience in a way likely to affect their decisions as consumers or harm a competitor.

Compliance: Under the Draft, broadcasters must have “structures, systems, policies, procedures, and personnel” in place to ensure compliance. This is a more demanding formulation than the current requirement for “systems and controls”.

Product placement: The Draft requires broadcasters to retain product placement records for 90 days after broadcast.

Gambling: Advertisers must be licensed by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland. The existing carve-out in the General Code permitting gambling advertisements to contain the provider’s address and a factual description of its services has not been retained.

Health: Health-related advertising must not promise guaranteed outcomes or cures, and the detailed rules on the advertising of medicinal products are replaced by a cross-reference to the Medicinal Products (Control of Advertising) Regulations 2007.

The product-specific due diligence obligations in the General Code are also replaced by a single obligation on broadcasters to take proportionate, reasonable and appropriate measures to ensure that all commercial communications comply with relevant legislation and regulatory codes.

Next Steps

The Draft retains many of the existing rules while making several substantive amendments that will affect businesses across various industries. Broadcasters and producers should review the proposed amendments, assess their compliance against any new requirements and consider whether it would be beneficial to submit a consultation response.

The consultation is open until 13 November 2026. For further guidance on how the proposed changes may affect you, or for assistance in preparing a consultation response, please contact a member of our Technology & Innovation Group.