Dear partners,
We remind you that from January 1, 2014, in accordance with the Federal Law “On Advertising” it is forbidden to advertise medical activities in Russia.
We have prepared a list for you of what cannot be mentioned in the advertising of medical organizations and the types of medical activities performed by them (if they are advertised in Russia):
― Any specific names of medical services. For example: ECG, MRI, ultrasound, ozone therapy, various forms of tests, prosthetics, X-rays, all kinds of massage, as well as registration of medical certificates.
― All common words that can indicate medical activities (i.e. the definite actions of specialists or medical organizations): operation, examination, treatment, solutions, prevention, rehabilitation, aid, appointment, consultation “we will answer all your questions”, inspection and so on.
― Names of medical equipment — “imaging system”, “machine for skin rejuvenation” and all others if the object is not being advertised for the sale of such equipment.
How to place an ad for medical activities
Ads may mention the type or direction of medical activity if their names do not match those of specific medical services.
A list of the types of medical services in Russian can be read here.
For all kinds of medical activity, you can specify an age group, such as pediatric surgery, pediatric dentistry and so on.
In ads you can also use:
― Names of symptoms or diagnoses: “headache”, “diabetes”, “eyesight problems”, “heart troubles”, “back ache” and so forth.
― Names of organs, body parts and the like to indicate the object of treatment: “liver”, “heart”, “neck muscles”, “back”.
Important clarifications
- An ad for a treatment organization is only taken for placement if the services are not mentioned. For instance “Oncology treament in Israel” is not allowed, but “Oncology clinic in Israel” is allowed. If the services are not in the territory of the Russian Federation, it is required to explicity specify it in the text of the ad (“medical center in Germany”).Please note that for advertising such organizations we require a letter of guarantee. Download the new sample letter of guarantee for medical subjects here.
- Also, medical services cannot be mentioned in ads for non-medical organizations.
- If the name of a medical service appears to be part of the official name of an organization and such a name is recorded in Russian in statutory documents, you need to provide copies of these documents to confirm this.
- Yandex does not reject ads where texts contain references to doctors or medical professionals (e.g. “excellent dentists”, “attentive specialists” and so on).
Please note that the use of the names of doctors/medical specialists in texts of ads may violate the following legal provisions on advertising and entail the responsibility of the advertiser: it is forbidden to use “images of medical and pharmaceutical workers, except for such use in the advertising of medical services…” (Part 4 of Section 5, Article 5 of the Federal Law “On Advertising”).
Please be careful with the wording of your texts.
Examples of ads in Russian and answers to Frequently Asked Questions can be found in our blog.