Businessman Dissatisfied with Practice of Collecting Fees in ADRA

Businessman Vagif Gurbanov believes that the Azerbaijan State Advertising Agency (ADRA) impedes a free economy and puts obstacles in front of business.

In a letter to Turan, Gurbanov notes that the ADRA function is to control exclusively outdoor advertising, which is placed in an open space, excluding company signs at the entrances to offices. Advertising elsewhere is controlled by the Ministry of Economy. Why is there such a dual power and how is advertising in an open space fundamentally different from advertising in a building? Government departments do not report this.

Further in the letter of Vagif Gurbanov, one interesting fact is replaced by another. It turns out that for placing advertisements on the wall of a building owned by a businessman ("site"), you also need to take permission and pay ADRA. This organization has special cars that drive around the city and automatically scan the space to reveal "illegal" advertisements. Then the owner receives a bill for a large fine. We will talk about this later.

Without advertising business, trade is impossible to imagine. Of course, the owner of the product wants to sell it and applies to ADRA for permission to place outdoor advertising. He has no one else to turn to, as in Azerbaijan this sphere is monopolized by ADRA. In Turkey, advertising is under the jurisdiction of municipalities, which use the proceeds to solve many social problems. The ADRA website critically describes the Turkish practice, and the ADRA specialists do not like outdoor advertising in Turkey. ADRA does not report for what the advertising fees from Azerbaijani businessmen are used.

A businessman comes to a state advertising agency and is asked to pay a state duty. Vagif Gurbanov considers the amount of this duty to be acceptable, not causing a problem. He gives a specific example of street advertising measuring 4 by 5 meters, in the Narimanov district of Baku - the state duty for this advertisement is set at 340 manat per year.

Surprising and expensive for businessmen is the second financial levy, called "pay for broadcasting", which is several times higher than the state duty. A calculator on the ADRA website suggests that the owner of the same advertisement must pay the agency for "broadcasting". ... 5,777.28 AZN together with VAT. This money will be received by the Agency, not by the state, and now it is clear where they got so many expensive foreign cars operating in 10 regional offices.

"This is a robbery of property owners and corruption. It makes no difference that these extortions are legalized," the businessman writes.

ADRA staff can charge for any advertising period, even retroactively, which is surprising to lawyers. For refusal to pay, even for advertising on the wall of a building belonging to the owner, an administrative protocol follows and a fine of 5 thousand manats is levied.

In an interview with another publication, the head of ADRA Aydin Ibadov said: “Fines for illegal advertising start from 300 manats and can go up to 10 thousand. And most importantly, it has the right to dismantle advertising with obvious violations, for which it does not even need to wait for a relevant court decision. According to open sources in the media, during the period of its existence the State Agency has already dismantled over six thousand advertising stands. "

Ibadov's words clearly contradict the thesis published in the departmental website of his subordinate: "The main purpose of self-regulation in the field of advertising is to protect the interests of subjects of the advertising market and others." If the price of advertising is determined not by market mechanisms, but by tariffs lowered from above, then how is the interest of the advertising market’s subject, a businessman, understood?

In courts, property rights are not protected; judges simply say there is nothing they can do about allowing ADRA to charge for ads that were hanging two years ago. The owners are stifled by fines and levies of this agency; what is happening is nothing but arbitrariness, trampling on rights, business and investments, V. Gurbanov writes.

The businessman Anar Huseynov, to whom we showed this letter, told Turan that in 2015, when he was solving the issue of outdoor advertising on the wall of his office, there were no such requirements. ADRA was established by presidential decree in 2017.

Answering Turan's questions, Emin Huseynov, an employee of the ADRA press relations department, noted that the tariffs in the State Agency are determined by the state, the department works transparently, and everyone who is dissatisfied can express their opinion by calling the 1412 hotline. "All ADRA activities are determined by the requirements of the law," he said.

Turan received an official email from ADRA. They got acquainted with the complaint of Vagif Gurbanov there. The agency reminds that it was created to control and regulate advertising in open space. The letter says about ADRA's assistance to businessmen who are allowed to place advertisements on their façades no larger than 1 sq. m.

The businessman told Turan that ADRA charges a high fee for an advertisement measuring 5 by 4 meters near the Narimanov metro station.

This example is presented to mislead readers, says an ADRA employee, since the dimensions, the ratio of the area of the advertisement to the wall area and the height of the placement of this advertisement are contrary to the technical requirements for the advertisement (paragraph 3.16). Due to the size of the advertisement, the businessman is charged a high fee for it, explained the employee of the advertising agency. —0-