Application from 10 October 2025; exception: rules prohibiting providers of political advertising services to discriminatorily restrict their services based on the place of residence/establishment of the entities sponsoring political advertising - rules apply since 9 April 2024.
Summary
EU regulation introducing harmonized transparency requirements for political advertising services and stricter rules on the use of online targeting techniques in the context of political advertising. PAR aims to ensure a high level of transparency in political advertising to protect the integrity of elections and referendums in Europe from targeted manipulation.
Scope
Applies to political advertising that is disseminated in the Union, brought into the public domain in a Member State or directed to Union citizens, irrespective of the advertiser's place of establishment or the means used (whether online or offline).
Political advertising refers to paid messages from political actors or other persons if they are liable and designed to influence an election result.
PAR contains transparency and due diligence obligations for providers, including publishers, and sponsors of political advertising.
Key elements
Political advertisements must be labelled as such and provide detailed information in a transparency notice, in particular about the sponsor and the amounts paid for the advertisement.
Online targeting or ad delivery techniques that involve the processing of personal data are only permitted under strict conditions (e.g., explicit consent of the data subject).
Ban on political advertising sponsored by entities from non-EU countries within the last three months before an election.
Establishment of a European repository that stores online political advertisements and transparency notices for seven years and makes them publicly available.
Obligation for publishers in the last month preceding an election or referendum to process notifications they receive about a political advertisement linked to that election or referendum within 48 hours.
Sanctions: Up to 6 % of the annual worldwide turnover of the sponsor, publisher, or provider of political advertising services.
Challenges
The term “political advertising”, which is central to PAR’s scope, is broadly defined and difficult to apply (e.g. issue-based ads), which may cause legal uncertainties.
Additional administrative burden for service providers for complying with comprehensive transparency, due diligence and data protection obligations.
Concerns about legislative competency for the subject matter regulated by the PAR (Article 114 TFEU).