Yes. The EU Commission published Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1410 which contains the official templates. See Annex 2, Part 3 of that regulation for the exact transparency notice templates, including guidance on formatting, use of bold text, bullet points, and size specifications. Audio and visual label templates are also included.
There are 15 categories of required information. Key ones include:
- Name and address of the sponsor
- Period of publication of the advertisement
- Aggregate amounts paid to each party for the campaign
- Source of funding (public or private, EU or non-EU)
- Which election, referendum, or legislative/regulatory process the ad relates to
- Whether targeting or ad delivery techniques were used
Notices must be in plain language, in the same language as the ad, kept up to date, and retained for 7 years.
Yes. All political advertisements — print, outdoor, or online — must have:
- A transparency QR Code on the ad itself, clearly identifying it as a political advertisement and naming the sponsor
- A transparency notice with the full 15 categories of information, either on the ad itself or accessible via a QR code or URL
The requirements are identical for print and online media.
At minimum, there must be a clearly visible statement that "this is a political advertisement", with the full transparency notice accessible via a QR code or URL. The full notice does not need to appear on the ad face.
The legal responsibility to host the transparency notice lies with the publisher. Publishers and sponsors may agree between themselves where the notice is hosted, but the publisher retains liability for any incorrect or incomplete information regardless of that arrangement.
An Coimisiún Toghcháin advises publishers to be very careful about any arrangement where they do not have direct control over the hosting.
If the politician creates and distributes the material themselves, they are both the sponsor and the publisher and carry the responsibilities of both roles — including placing the label, ensuring the transparency notice is accessible, and retaining records for 7 years.
The legal obligation to publish the transparency notice lies with the publisher. However, providers (agencies, ad buyers) also have a responsibility to ensure that information they pass to the publisher is accurate and complete.
Each case is decided individually based on the chain of responsibility involved in producing the ad.
Yes, if it is paid for by the councillor acting in their representative capacity and is not private or commercial in nature — even if the content is not political. The councillor's name and clinic details indicate it is in their representative capacity. Removing the clinic details does not take it outside scope.
Yes. Even if printed at home without direct cost, leaflet printing would normally be a paid-for service — this brings it within scope of TTPA. Similarly, distribution by volunteers also falls within scope, as distribution would normally be a paid service.
Yes, because the service would normally be provided for remuneration. The TD remains the sponsor. The transparency notice should specify that the service was provided rather than paid for, and ideally indicate what it would normally cost.
Editorial content is not covered by TTPA. If the TD pays to place content, that is covered. Organic (unpaid) social media posts are not covered. Paid promotion of those posts is covered. The key distinction is whether it is paid-for advertising.
Yes, posters need a TTPA transparency QR Code and QR code/URL to a transparency notice.
Importantly: Section 140 of the Electoral Act 1992 was repealed by S.I. 474/2025. There is no longer any legal requirement to print the name and address of the printer or publisher on Irish election posters.
Current legal requirements for election posters are: (1) TTPA QR Code and link to transparency notice; (2) Litter Offences Act rules on display timeframes.
- Targeting techniques — selecting or excluding an audience (who sees the ad)
- Ad delivery techniques — how you show the ad to increase circulation to a group (how the ad is shown, e.g. A/B testing, ad inventory methods)
Both are covered. They overlap in practice and often work in combination.
Under Article 18 of TTPA, you must:
- Collect data directly from the individual — third-party sources (e.g. electoral registers, local authority lists) cannot be used
- Obtain explicit, separate consent specifically for political advertising purposes
- Not use special category data (religion, race, sexual orientation, health, trade union membership) for profiling
- Not target individuals reasonably believed to be under 17
- Not re-request consent if someone has previously declined
Yes, if those interest categories can be used to infer special category characteristics (religion, political opinion, health, ethnicity etc.). This violates TTPA and GDPR. Note also that Meta's terms of service currently prohibit political advertising entirely.
There is an exception for communications with your own subscribers or members — Article 18 strict consent obligations do not apply. However, the person must have actively indicated they want to receive your messaging. Someone simply asking a question does not qualify as a subscriber.
These major platforms currently prohibit political advertising in their terms of service, so in practice TTPA does not apply to paid ads on these platforms — because they don't accept them.
If a political ad does appear on these platforms in breach of their policies, it can be treated as illegal content under the DSA (Article 16), and the platform can be required to remove it. Coimisiún na Meán supervises these platforms.
- An Coimisiún Toghcháin / Coimisiún na Meán: up to 6% of annual income or global turnover
- Data Protection Commission: up to €10 million or 2% of total worldwide turnover (whichever is higher) for targeting/data protection breaches
Regulators have stated they will focus formal enforcement on repeated breaches and will support good-faith compliance efforts.
7 years from the date of last publication. Applies to providers (services, amounts paid, funding source, sponsor contacts) and publishers (transparency notice and all changes).
- An Coimisiún Toghcháin — general authority, print/outdoor/non-platform digital: electoralcommission.ie
- Coimisiún na Meán — broadcast, streaming, social media platforms: ttpa@cenam.ie / cenam.ie
- Data Protection Commission — targeting and personal data: dataprotection.ie