Member Article

The legal environment for sport sponsorship in Ukraine has matured and taken
shape over the last few years. However, Ukrainian legislation on sponsorship is
still not sufficiently developed and it lacks clarity in many key respects. The
Ukrainian legal concept of sponsorship follows the general European approach
defining sponsorship as any contribution made by a public or private undertaking
with a view to promoting its name, its trademark, its image, its activities or
its products. Ukrainian legal framework of sponsorship and advertising is
partially based on the European Convention on Transfrontier Television and
respective Council Directives. But Ukrainian rules are more restrictive,
especially where advertising of alcoholic beverages is concerned.

UEFA rules prohibit the advertising of tobacco, strong alcoholic beverages as
well as of slogans of a political, religious or racial nature and the
advertising of other causes that offend common decency. In addition, UEFA has
decided to ban the consumption, sale, and promotion of tobacco products in
stadiums hosting matches during the UEFA EURO 2012 tournament. Following this
example, a bill was introduced to the Ukrainian Parliament recently seeking to
ban the consumption of tobacco in virtually all public spaces. Another way in
which Ukraine follows UEFA’s lead is that Ukraine introduced a ban on tobacco
sponsorship and advertising recently as well as on alcohol advertising on
television, radio and in public places. This decision brings sponsorship
legislation even closer to UEFA regulations.

 

Footnotes: Published in The Ukrainian Journal of Business Law. – 2011. – December. – p.27