The UK government has announced that from today (16 December) it will block the export of advertising services – among other professional services – to Russia.
The news follows the government’s previous announcement made in September which set out its aims to extend the list of export service sanctions to Russia that were already in place.
Export sanctions will reportedly apply to the sale, purchase, planning, creation and placement of advertising services.
Exceptions will be made for UK service providers that entered into contracts before 16 December 2022, meaning that they can honour these contracts until 15 March 2023. After this date however, the government exception will not apply.
Industry body, the Advertising Association, has released a statement to confirm its full support of these measures.
Subscribe to Marketing Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest marketing news sent straight to your inbox each morning
“UK advertising and marketing businesses still providing services to Russia should urgently take note of the UK government’s announcement today,” Advertising Association CEO Stephen Woodford said.
“The statutory instrument has now been laid and from tomorrow (00.01, December 16th 2022) it will be illegal to supply advertising and marketing services to Russia. As the industry’s trade body, we fully support these measures, as well as the decision of many companies who have already ceased trading with Russia.
“Companies will be breaking the law if they export advertising and marketing services to Russia or to persons connected to Russia once the legislation comes into force, with limited exceptions. We urge businesses to act now to avoid illegal trading. We will continue to work with government to ensure that these sanctions have the maximum impact on Putin’s regime whilst minimising disruption to UK businesses and ensuring legitimate and necessary activity may continue.”
