The proposal suggests a ban on marketing activities towards children (defined as people under 18) for products specified in an Annex to the proposed regulation. The relevant product categories are all in the so-called HFSS (high fat, sugar or salt) foods, and include chocolate and sugary goods, energy bars, sweet spreads and desserts, cakes, cookies and other sweet and/or fatty bakery goods, snacks, ice cream, energy drinks, soda and other sweet refreshments, milk and plant-based drinks, cereals, yoghurts and fast foods.

The proposal defines marketing as any form of communication or action for marketing purposes.

Marketing purposes exist if one of the aims of the of the communication or action is to promote sales to consumers.

The following practices shall always be considered as marketing towards children:

• Advertising in cinemas in connection with films that are specifically aimed at children under the age of 13, and which starts before 18.30.
• All forms of competitions with an age limit lower than 18 years.
• Distribution of tastings and product samples to children.
• Special exhibitions that have a form of presentation, content or design that may content or design that may appeal to children, for example because of language, colors, effects, imagery, use of use of animation or cartoon characters.

For other marketing activities, a specific assessment will have to be made, where emphasis may be placed, inter alia, on:

• whether the product is primarily consumed by or particularly appeals to children
• whether the marketing has a form of presentation, content or design that may appeal to children, for example due to language, colors animation or cartoon characters
• the time and place of the marketing
• whether children or persons who may particularly appeal to children are involved
• the use of gifts, toys, vouchers, discounts, collectibles, competitions or games that particularly appealing to children.

The regulation also specifies that irrespective of whether the marketing is aimed at children, the marketing of products covered by Annex I must not be marketed in a way that encourages adults to buy the product for children.

Furthermore, a provision is also included with regard to the placement of products at the point of sale, where it is not prohibited for products covered by Annex I to be placed next to other products and services that appeal to children, such as toys, children’s books, games and similar.

The proposal suggests that the agency responsible for supervision of the ban should be the Norwegian Directorate for Health, which also supervises advertising on alcohol and tobacco. Their practice on marketing of these product groups areas is already considered to be rather strict.

The proposal also includes sanctions. Breach of the rules can be met with violation fines for up to 4% of the annual sales of the business, although not exceeding 50 times the basic amount of the National Insurance Scheme (meaning a cap on approximately NOK 6,2 Million).

At a first glance, large parts of the prohibited marketing activities are in line with the current guidelines and practice of Matvarebransjens Fagutvalg (MFU), a self-regulatory body which issues opinions of activities brought to its attention. However, unlike with the case a self-regulatory body, the Directorate of Public Health will have the opportunity to monitor and initiate actions themselves. In addition, the introduction of rather hefty violation fines will have a deterring effect on market activities for affected businesses, as the consequences in case of breaches will be much more severe.

The deadline for the consultative hearing is 24 November 2024. It is not known when the regulation is intended to be in force, but I expect that it could be already from 1 January 2025.

The consultative letter and the draft proposal for legislation can be found here (in Norwegian only).