EU Political Advertising Regulation (2024)

As of 1 October 2026. Information only, not legal advice – see the disclaimer.

The Regulation lays down harmonised transparency and due-diligence obligations for political advertising and related services, and rules on the use of targeting and ad-delivery techniques involving personal data in the context of online political advertising. It applies to political advertising irrespective of the medium, and to providers of political advertising services, including publishers. It is referred to in debates on the integrity of elections, foreign interference and micro-targeting.

• Art. 3 – Definitions, including “political advertising” and “political advertising service”.
• Art. 5(2) – In the three months before an election or referendum, political advertising services may be provided only to sponsors who are Union citizens, third-country nationals permanently resident in the Union with the right to vote in that election, or legal persons established in the Union that are not controlled by third-country actors.
• Arts. 11–12 – Labelling of political advertisements and transparency notices (sponsor, amounts, election concerned, use of targeting).
• Art. 13 – European repository for online political advertisements.
• Art. 18 – Targeting and ad-delivery techniques involving personal data in online political advertising are permitted only with explicit, separate consent; profiling based on special categories of personal data is prohibited; restrictions apply to data of persons below voting age.
• Art. 19 – Additional transparency obligations for controllers using targeting and ad-delivery techniques.

The Regulation's third-country sponsor restriction in the pre-election period (Art. 5(2)) is presented by the EU institutions as a measure against foreign interference in electoral processes. It complements the systemic-risk obligations of the Digital Services Act.

• 2025-07-09: Commission implementing regulation on labels and transparency notices adopted (European Commission).
• 2025-10: Commission guidelines on the application of the Regulation published (European Commission).
• 2025-10-10: The Regulation applies (Arts. 3 and 5(1) had applied since 9 April 2024).
• 2026-04-09: Commission implementing act on the European repository for online political advertisements adopted (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/818) (European Commission; EUR-Lex).

• dsa
• ai_act
• iccpr

• Regulation (EU) 2024/900 (EUR-Lex), accessed 2026-09-27
• European Commission: Transparency and targeting of political advertising, accessed 2026-09-27

• 2026-09-27: Entry created (draft).
• 2026-09-30: Entry reviewed and finalised.
• 2026-10-01: Reference of the implementing regulation added.