Outdoor advertising in Semey

Advertising faces in the catalogue: 5. Addresses under them: 5. Owners: 1. Every face carries an exact address, plus a photo and a rate-card price where the owner has published them, and we confirm availability with the owners of the structures before sending a quote.

Digital surfaces: 5 out of 5. Take a screen when the creative and the schedule have to change mid-campaign, for events and sales; a printed board carries one creative for the whole term.

A screen carries its own line in the Tax Code fee table, and for a city of oblast significance it reads: a video display of up to 20 m² costs 14 MCI a month per face, one above 20 m² costs 24 MCI, and a running-text display 2 MCI. The language rule is the same as for print: a Kazakh version of the creative is mandatory.

A Kazakh version is mandatory and a Russian one is optional, not the other way round: article 6 of the advertising law requires it, and a translation must not distort the meaning. The law on languages fixes the layout too — the state language left or on top, Russian right or below, in letters of the same size. A trademark protected in Kazakhstan is reproduced unchanged: a Latin logo is not translated.

The oblast rules add a local detail: a description of the advertising with sketches, in Kazakh and Russian, goes with the notice. Article 455 of the administrative code sets the fine at 20 MCI for an individual and 400 MCI for a large business, and higher again on a repeat within a year.

Kazakhstan has no installation permit and no placement scheme: the regime is one of notification. A notice on the form annexed to the oblast rules goes to the akimat of Semey in advance, with the period and site, proof of payment for the first month and a description of the advertising with sketches; putting a structure up without one is prohibited. Written objections from the akimat must be addressed, and four working days of silence mean placement may proceed on the dates declared.

Payment follows its own schedule: the first month is paid before the notice is filed, then by the 25th of the current month, and a part-month is charged as a full one. If no notice is filed at all, the rate doubles.

The oblast rules close monuments of history and culture together with their protection zones, religious buildings with the grounds and fences assigned to them, and specially protected natural areas. Beyond that the advertising law applies:

• audio advertising in open space is prohibited;
• advertising may not be applied to the roadway, pavements, paths, boarding areas or stops;
• a structure must not resemble a road sign, obscure one or dazzle drivers;
• once a contract ends the structure is dismantled within 30 calendar days.

The reverse list matters too: a shop sign, opening hours, event posters in places set aside for them, exchange rates beside a currency booth and window dressing do not count as outdoor advertising and need no notice, while advertising on vehicles themselves is placed with no notice and no fee.