Introduction

The Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP) is the nodal agency of the Government of India for advertising by various Ministries and organizations of Government of India including public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies. The primary objective of the Government in advertising is to secure the widest possible coverage of the intended content or message through newspapers and journals of current affairs as well as Science Art, Literature, Sports, Films, Cultural Affairs etc. In releasing advertisements to newspapers/journals the DAVP does not take into account the political affiliation or editorial policies of newspapers/journals. However, DAVP would avoid releasing advertisements to newspapers/journals, which incite or tend to incite communal passion, preach violence, offend the sovereignty and integrity of India or socially accepted norms of public decency and behavior. Accordingly in supersession of all earlier orders, the Government hereby lays down the New Advertisement Policy with effect from June 1, 2006.

Clause 2.

Government advertisements are not intended to be financial assistance to newspapers/journals. DAVP maintains a list of newspapers/journals approved for release of advertisements by empanelling acceptable newspapers/journals. DAVP will empanel only such newspapers/journals as are required for issuing advertisements of the Government of India. Care is taken to empanel newspapers/journals having readership from different sections of the society in different parts of the country.

Clause 3.

All Central Govt. advertisements will be routed through DAVP. All attached offices, autonomous organizations and PSUs under the Ministries/Departments will also route their advertisements through DAVP.

Clause 4.

All Ministries / Departments shall pay for all type of advertisements including tender, recruitment & display. DAVP will intimate to all Ministries/Departments including PSUs and Autonomous Bodies, releasing advertisements through it, the approximate cost of the advertisement along with the media plan. DAVP will henceforth not charge 13% departmental charges. The clients will release the appropriate funds to DAVP provisionally within 30 days of issue of the advertisement. Final settlement of bills will be made when the same are received from the concerned newspapers.

Clause 5.

There shall be a Panel Advisory Committee (PAC) for considering applications of newspapers/journals for being empanelled for receiving Government advertisements. This Committee shall be headed by Director General, DAVP and shall include Addl. Director General (Media & Communication)/Deputy Director General (Media & Communication) in the Press Information Bureau (PIB), Press Registrar/Deputy Press Registrar and Director/Deputy Secretary/ Under Secretary in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting dealing with Print Media. The Committee will also have one representative each from the Association of big, medium and small newspapers. The recommendations of the PAC as accepted by the DG, DAVP regarding empanelment of a newspaper shall be final.

Clause 6.

In pursuance of broad social objectives of the Government and for ensuring fairness among various categories of newspapers/journals, the PAC considers empanelment of newspapers/journals belonging to the following categories on priority :

a) Small and medium newspapers/journals

b) Language newspapers

c) Newspapers/journals published in backward, remote and border areas.

Clause 7.

Newspapers/journals are classified into three categories, namely

i) Small, with a circulation of up to 25,000 copies per publishing day.

ii) Medium, between 25,001 and 75,000 copies per publishing day, and

iii) Big, with a circulation of above 75,000 copies per publishing day.

Clause 8.

Every newspaper/journal seeking empanelment for the first time shall comply with following:

1. It must have been uninterruptedly and regularly under publication for a period of not less than 36 months.
2. It should comply with the provisions of the Press & Registration of Books Act, 1867.
3. It should not have been disqualified by DAVP in the last six years and should not be a defaulter of DAVP.
4. The period of disqualification should not exceed six years.
5. It should not have been Unestablished by RNI at the time of applying.
6. The applicant should also furnish a copy of the Certificate of Registration issued by the RNI in the name of the publisher.
7. The details of the paper like size, language, periodicity, print area and details of printing press etc. as asked for in empanelment form may be given.
8. Further, it must be substantiated that the paper is being published at a reasonable standard. Reasonable standard, inter alia, means that
   

(a) The Print matter and photographs should be legible, neat, clear and without smudges, overwriting, and tampering.

(b) There should be no repetition of news items or articles from other issues.

(c) There should be no reproduction of news items or articles from other newspaper/journals and the source of news/articles should be mentioned.

(d) Masthead on its front page should carry the title of the newspaper, place, date and day of publication; it should also carry RNI Registration Number, volume & issue number, number of pages and price of newspaper/journals;

(e) The newspaper should carry imprint line as required under PRB Act; and

(f) Inner pages must carry page number, title of the paper and date of publication. For multi-editions place of publication must be mentioned in inner pages also.

(g) All the publications must carry editorial.

Fresh applications for empanelment may be made twice a year i.e. once at the end of February and other by the end of August. The Applications made before February end will be considered in month of May of the same year and their contract will start w.e.f. 1st July of the same year and applications made before August end will be considered in November and their contract will start w.e.f 1st January of the next year. The details of documents required for empanelment is in ANNEXURE

Clause 9.

Notwithstanding any of the provisions mentioned above, DG, DAVP, as Chairman of the Panel Advisory Committee, will have discretion to grant provisional empanelment to a newspaper, subject to approval of the PAC, for a period of six months or till the next meeting of the PAC if the newspaper has completed all the formalities required for empanelment and otherwise found suitable for issue of Government advertisements.

Rate Contract:

All empanelled newspapers will be asked to enter into a rate contract, which will be valid for a particular circulation and a period of 3 years. However, circulation shall be verified and changed, if required, every year based on the evidence as prescribed in the criterion for empanelment during the period of validity of the contract. DAVP will make available the application for this through its website and also through the newspaper associations recognised by Press Council of India.

The applicant should have published the newspaper on at least 25 days in each month during preceding 12 months. Weeklies should have published 46 issues during the preceding year, fortnightlies 23 issues and monthlies 11 issues during the preceding year to be considered being brought out regularly.

Clause 12.

Newspapers/journals having established circulation of more than 75,000 copies per publishing day, as certified by Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) can seek empanelment of their fresh edition from a new place after having regular publication for preceding 4 months with same title, but in such cases empanelment of fresh edition will be only in the lowest slab of circulation. New Editions of small and medium newspapers will also be empanelled similarly.

Clause 13.

A newspaper/journal should have a minimum paid circulation of not less than 2000 copies for being considered eligible for empanelment. However, newspapers/journals in Sanskrit, newspapers/ journals published in backward, border or remote areas or in tribal languages or those published in J&K, Andman & Nicobar Islands and North-Eastern States need to have substantiated minimum paid circulation of only 500 copies per publishing day.

Clause 14.

A newspaper/journal should have the following minimum print area:

Exceptions may, however, be made by PAC in the case of newspapers/journals belonging to the above mentioned newspapers/journals in Sanskrit, newspapers/ journals published in backward, border or remote areas or in tribal languages or those published in J&K, Andman & Nikobar Islands and North-East States.

Clause 15.

The empanelment already granted by the DG, DAVP earlier will remain valid for the duration for which empanelment has been made.

Clause 16.

The applicant newspaper/journal should furnish authenticated figures of circulation of ABC, Cost Accountant/Statutory Auditor/Chartered Accountant as per the criteria below:

upto 25000 - Cost/Chartered Accountant/ Statutory Auditor Certificate in prescribed proforma/ABC Certificate.

25001 – 75000 – Companies: Statutory Auditor certificate in prescribed proforma/ABC certificate.

Individuals: Chartered Accountant certificate in prescribed proforma/ABC certificate.

Above 75000 – ABC certificate

DAVP will take average circulation for the preceding one year as certified by ABC/Statutory Auditor/CA certificate.

DG, DAVP reserves the right to have figures of circulation checked through its representatives or through RNI. However, there will be no circulation check for newspapers/journals with circulation upto 6,000.

Clause 18.

Suspension and Recoveries: A newspaper will be suspended from empanelment by DG, DAVP with immediate effect if

a) found to have deliberately submitted false information regarding circulation or otherwise; or

b) found to have discontinued its publication, changed its periodicity or its title or have become irregular or changed its premises/press without due intimation; or

c) It has failed to submit its’ Annual Return to the RNI or its’ Annual Circulation Certificate from the prescribed agencies or

d) Indulged in unethical practices or anti national activities as found by the Press Council of India or.

e) Convicted by Court of Law for such activities

f) It refuses to accept and carry an advertisement issued by DAVP on behalf of the Ministries/Departments of Government of India, public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies on persistent basis.

Provided that DG, DAVP shall not issue any order of suspension without giving a reasonable opportunity to the concerned newspaper in cases covered by (a), (b), (c) & (f) above.

In such cases the paper will remain suspended for a period upto 12 months. DAVP will effect recovery of any payments made in the past from the publisher in the case of (a), (b) & (c) above. The publisher should deposit within 60 days from the date of issue of Demand Letter for recovery by DAVP failing which empanelment of the paper will be discontinued with immediate effect without any further notice and recovery will be realized from the bills/payments pending with DAVP, if any. Till the recovery is made, no advertisement will be issued.

Clause 19.

The rate structure for payment against advertisements released by DAVP will be worked out on the basis of laid down principles. DAVP will work out advertisement rates as per the Government of India rate structure formula devised by the Rate Structure Committee. The rates will be related to circulation of a newspaper and will apply uniformly to all newspapers. The newspaper will enter into rate contract with DAVP accepting the DAVP rates and other terms and conditions as laid down from time to time to ensure publication of DAVP advertisements as and when issued to a newspaper.

Payment of Advertisement bills

Clause 20

DAVP will release payment of advertisement bills in the name of the payee and at the address given by the newspaper in the application form for renewal of rate contract or fresh application for empanelment, as the case may be. No change in the payee’s name or address will be entertained during the year of empanelment unless it is justified and found unavoidable or compelling.

Clause 21.

Every newspaper will be obliged to send one copy of the newspaper on their own carrying DAVP advertisements, to the client at the address mentioned in the Release Order, failing which payment for the advertisement may not be considered. In addition, DAVP may ask for regular supply of specimen copies of any empanelled publication for period considered necessary. Newspapers may inform DAVP within 48 hours, if they have not been able to publish the advertisement on the due date.

Clause 22

Every newspaper will be obliged to submit its advertisement bills, complete in all respect, and supported with relevant documents, within 60 days of the publication of the advertisement. DAVP will make every effort to pay the advertisement bill within 60 days of receipt of bill.

Clause 23

No newspaper will publish DAVP advertisement without receipt of the relevant Release Order. Request for a duplicate Release Order by publications will be entertained on merits and on case to case basis.

Clause 24

The newspaper will be obliged to strictly adhere to the date of publication of DAVP advertisements as given in the Release Order. Publication of advertisement on dates other than that given in the Release Order, unless intimated otherwise, will not be regularised with revalidation of Release Order and no payment will be made in such cases.

Clause 25

As soon as requisitions for release of advertisements are received from various Ministries and Departments as also from public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies, DAVP will prepare a suitable media list keeping in view the content, the target audience or the advertisement and availability of funds after consideration of the recommendations of the client.

Clause 26

DAVP will make efforts to release more advertisements to periodicals especially social messages and advertisements which are not date specific. Efforts will also be made to release more advertisements to newspapers with special emphasis on North East, J&K and other remote areas. While releasing display advertisements, DAVP will ensure that a balance is maintained between various categories of newspapers taking into account circulation, language, coverage area etc. For this purpose, the distribution of advertisements, Rupee terms, will be as under:

The above norms are indicative and should be adhered to in the overall media strategy of the Ministries / Departments to ensure maximum coverage at optimum cost. However, in specific cases where a Ministry/Department wishes to make a deviation from these norms, full and detailed justification should be given while placing the order. DAVP shall bring all such deviations to the notice of the Ministry of I&B for information and necessary action.

Documents required for empanelment with DAVP

1. RNI registration Certificate Number.

2. Evidence for Circulation (Chartered Accountant Certificate/Cost Accountant certificate/Statutory Auditor Certificate/ABC certificate, as applicable).

3. Copy of the annual return submitted to RNI.

4. A daily newspaper should furnish issues of first one month of the year of their publication along with issues of the 18th month and 35th month of their publication and weeklies & fortnightlies must furnish issues of preceding six months and monthlies should furnish latest 12 months issues. Daily Publications more than 3 years old and not previously empanelled with DAVP will furnish the relevant copies starting with the previous 3 years in the same manner as above.

5. Three copies of the rate card.

6. Photocopy of the Permanent Account Number (issued by Department of Income Tax).