The National Communications Commission (NCC) and the Department of Health (DOH) held their first joint meeting yesterday to discuss how to crack down on illegal advertisements for food, drugs and skin care products. The NCC is the administrative authority that regulates the media and the DOH enforces the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法).
The meeting, aimed at streamlining and standardizing procedures, was presided over by NCC Chairwoman Bonnie Peng (彭芸) and Minister of Health Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良).
Yaung said the DOH was unable to record the television programs because of limitations in manpower and resources.
“From now on, if the NCC has doubts on the content of television programs, they can record the programs and send the audio electronic files to the DOH directly,” Yaung said. “Once experts determine that an advertisement violates regulations, we will penalize the advertisers.”
The DOH said in a written statement that local health bureaus could help hand out fines to advertisers if they violate regulations. The department, however, asked the NCC to take “necessary administrative measures” to ensure that media self-regulate when handling food and drug ads.
NCC statistics showed that it handled a total of 219 cases in 2008 and last year that involved televised “infomercials.” The accumulated fines topped NT$97 million (US$3.03 million).
In the same period, the NCC handled 205 cases that involved infomercials aired over the radio, issuing NT$4.27 million in fines.
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