Court of Appeals declares contract between EPA Media and City Hall legal

The Court of Appeals (CA) has recently ruled in favour of the Austria-based “EPA Media” Company in a lawsuit initiated by the Association of Chisinau Advertising Agencies (AAPC), which alleged that the contract signed by the Austrian firm with the Chisinau City Hall was illegal. The information was made public Thursday, June 12, by the firm’s lawyer, Vitalie Caldiba, during a meeting with Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca, solicited by AAPC. The lawyer said that the CE judgement rendered null and void the decision taken by the Chisinau Municipal Council to dismiss the contract signed between the Austrian company and the City Hall under a public partnership project providing for the construction and illumination of omnibus stops and placement of outdoor advertising. Angela Sarbu, director of the “Aquarelle” Agency, says AAPC will appeal the CA judgement in the Supreme Court in attempt to prove the illegality of the Austrian firm’s moves, labelled as cornering the outdoor advertising market in the city. Sandu Osadcenco, director of the “Neorama” Advertising Agency, said that although EPA Media was supposed to bring advanced advertising technology to Chisinau, it never happened. In his words, the omnibus stops that are currently installed by this firm do not meet the modern requirements, as the technology and materials employed have been used by the Chisinau-based advertising agencies for 10 years now. AAPC refuted the local authorities’ earlier arguments concerning the amount of 1 million lei annually transferred by the advertisers to the local budget, which was considered to be too few. It was ascertained at the meeting that the advertisers in the city pay much more, which doesn’t excuse the authorities’ searches for new players on the market. Last year alone the city coffers got 1.6 million lei in revenue generated by the 5% tax on income from advertising activities. Besides, the advertisers pay up to 1800 lei for each side of those 2500 billboards installed in the city. Asked whether Chisinau has enough room to accommodate new billboards, given that EPA media was authorised to install 1500 big billboards, 500 smaller ones and posters on all the pillars, City Hall officials said that the capital city can handle a maximum of 3500. For his part, the city deputy chief architect, Nicon Zaporojan mentioned that the local authorities are drafting a new Regulation and a new Concept on the development of outdoor advertisement in Chisinau, inviting all the ad agencies to take part in the process to avoid controversy in the future. Such disagreements, he says, appear because Chisinau hasn’t had a defined concept for outdoor advertisement for more than 10 years. In the context, Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca underlined that the problems cited by the AAPC in their support must be thoroughly analysed and compiled into an adequate decision. The mayor suggested continuing discussions on the issue, expressing his hope that the final result will satisfy the interests of the city authorities and advertisers likewise. In November 2006, the City Council announced a tender to commission the right to build omnibus stops, and charged a special committee with the task to examine the projects and subsequently present to the Council the investment offers. Later, the then interim mayor Vasile Ursu ignored the term established for the tender and signed an agreement with the Austrian firm. The advertisers deplored the move, claiming they hadn’t been informed about the tender, which had take place “through the back door” of the City Hall.