Current Situation and the Future of Regulations for Medical Advertising

Kim, Rock Kwon

Abstract

Currently, all medical advertisements in periodicals, leaflets, posters, street banners and online newspapers are subjected to prior review to verify whether they comply with relevant standards. Ironically, medical advertising on public transportation, on the Internet or on broadcast is not subjected to prior review even though such media are far more influential to medical consumers. With these facts in mind, Korean government needs to widen the scope of prior review for medical advertisements on the media. The expansion of the regulation should not be considered as an increased governmental interference with commercial activities. Appropriate advertisement standards are necessary to prevent excessive competition, and also to protect interests of the medical service providers, who themselves could become the victims of false and exaggerated advertisement. Since it is likely that the medical advertisement on broadcast to be allowed from the year 2010, relevant laws and regulations need to be revised in due time to enable proper review. Claims made on Internet websites by medical service providers should also be reviewed. In addition, approvals for medical advertisements should have a temporal regulation so that certificates of approval are only valid during a given period of time.