Recital 18 of the original Directive explains that:
Information society services span a wide range of economic activities which take
place on-line; these activities can, in particular, consist of selling goods on-line;
activities such as the delivery of goods as such or the provision of services off-line
are not covered; information society services are not solely restricted to services
giving rise to on-line contracting but also, in so far as they represent an economic
activity, extend to services which are not remunerated by those who receive them,
such as those offering on-line information or commercial communications, or those
providing tools allowing for search, access and retrieval of data; information society
services also include services consisting of the transmission of information via a
communication network, in providing access to a communication network or in
hosting information provided by a recipient of the service; television broadcasting
within the meaning of Directive EEC/89/552 and radio broadcasting are not
information society services because they are not provided at individual request; by
contrast, services which are transmitted point to point, such as video-on-demand or
the provision of commercial communications by electronic mail are information
society services; the use of electronic mail or equivalent individual communications
for instance by natural persons acting outside their trade, business or profession
including their use for the conclusion of contracts between such persons is not an
information society service; the contractual relationship between an employee and
his employer is not an information society service; activities which by their very
Changes to the regulation of e-cigarette advertising 12
nature cannot be carried out at a distance and by electronic means, such as the
statutory auditing of company accounts or medical advice requiring the physical
examination of a patient are not information society services.
In aggregate CAP considers that this prohibition is likely to prevent advertisements in the
following media, and perhaps others: