Banned adverts for alcoholic beverages in central Chisinau

Though advertising of alcohol was banned, the advertisements for alcoholic drinks on the streets of Chisinau didn’t disappear and can be seen even on Stefan cel Mare Blvd. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, Gheorghe Tofan, head of the Chisinau Architecture and Urbanism Division’s Advertising Section, said the municipality does not issue authorizations for setting up billboards with pictures of alcoholic beverages and cigarettes. “When we are informed about illegally placed advertisements, we ask the police to take measures. The culprits are fined and forced to take the billboards away,” he stated. Adrian Jovmir, spokesman for the Chisinau General Police Commissariat, said the fine in such cases varies between 400 and 6,000 lei. In 2011, the National Agency for Competition Protection issued a prescription saying the street advertisements for alcoholic drinks should be withdrawn as such a measure runs counter to the social policy of the state. Adverts for alcohol can be put only at the place of production and sale of alcoholic beverages, for example on facades of factories or shops.