Brussels, 11/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has sent Spain a letter of formal notice (first warning) for failing to comply with the television advertising rules. A report by an independent consultant revealed numerous and frequent infringements of the rules by the major Spanish television channels. The investigation, carried out in two stages, between 1 May and 30 June 2005 and then via a sample of one week per month from July 2005 to July 2006, revealed an incorrect interpretation of the rules contained in Article 18(2) of the “Television without Frontiers” (TVWF) directive. Spain interprets “spot advertising” too narrowly, with the result that, in many cases, advertisements now exceed the directive's limit of 12 minutes per hour. The second infringement, which the Commission found Spanish television channels frequently committing, relates to the rule in Article 11(4) of the directive concerning the interval of 20 minutes between advertising breaks. The Spanish government now has two months within which to respond to the Commission's concerns. This decision by the Commission is all the more significant because it comes just a few months before the entry into force of the new Directive on Audiovisual Media Services Without Frontiers, which maintains and confirms the limit of 12 minutes per hour for spot advertising and teleshopping. (il)