(Business in Cameroon) - The Urban Community of Yaoundé (CUY) has been demanding nearly CFA4 billion since 2020 from businesses, including SMEs and multinationals, for the use of advertising spaces. These companies are accused of advertising without paying the CUY, the authority for advertising permits.

"To advertise in Yaoundé, you need an approved agency recognized by the CUY and Mincom. Without ministry approval, the city can't endorse any advertising agency. These agencies manage ad space sales for the city. Skipping this process breaks the law,” explains Junior Daniel Mbilongo, director of Label Sarlu, the agency responsible for monitoring advertising for the municipality of Yaoundé.

The intermediary, known as the advertising agent, acts between the municipality, which grants the advertising space, and the advertiser, to whom it subleases this space, explains Kisito Ngankak, director of media development and advertising at Mincom. "Illegal advertising occurs when you place an advertisement without authorization. Municipalities are responsible for authorizing the installation of billboards because they manage urban areas. If a billboard is displayed without meeting these conditions, it can be considered fraudulent. At Mincom, our mission is to authorize individuals to become advertisers by issuing permits. However, even with a permit, the municipality must grant space for the installation," he said in an interview published on April 2 by the public newspaper Cameroon Tribune.

Junior Daniel Mbilongo, director of the advertising monitoring agency for the Urban Community of Yaoundé (CUY), emphasizes that although all companies want to use advertising to attract more customers, very few pay the required fees. "Currently, over 80% of unpaid bills come from multinationals that even refuse to pay. However, it's mandatory for all companies, even the largest ones, to settle what they owe to the city administration before placing an advertisement, even for a simple sticker," he points out, particularly singling out breweries.

According to him, the Urban Community of Yaoundé loses "hundreds of millions" of FCFA each year due to fraudulent advertising, a problem that the municipality has been trying to solve for about ten years. "We've gone from issuing orders for receipts for CFA100 million to practically 800 million in 10 years. This shows that the increase has been significant. However, today, we're facing a kind of quasi-organized rebellion that we want to solve and eliminate," he says, adding, "And it will be done." The CUY specifies that the payment of these advertising rights is regulated by the law of December 29, 2006, which governs advertising in Cameroon. It stipulates that all advertising must be subject to taxes and fees for the purchase of advertising space (Article 20) and must be authorized (Article 21).

However, companies argue that the fee collected by decentralized territorial collectivities (CTDs) is unfounded. The Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, also declared that the advertising fee charged to companies by the CTDs is illegal. "Per the provisions of Article C3 of the General Tax Code (CGI), a territorial collectivity cannot levy a tax or fee unless it is created by a law, passed by the deliberative body, and approved by the competent authority. Consequently, since the current legislation has not provided for an advertising fee applicable to advertising operations of companies, and whose collection would be carried out by the CTDs, the collection of this fee by the latter is deemed non-compliant," he specified in a letter sent on November 17, 2022, to his colleague from Decentralization and Local Development (Minddevel), Georges Elanga Obam.

Louis Paul Motaze, however, clarified that decentralized territorial collectivities remain competent for the collection of revenue related to the spaces they develop in the public domain within their competence for the installation of advertising media. On October 10, 2023, René Emmanuel Sadi, the Minister of Communication and also the president of the National Advertising Council, issued a statement instructing partner agents of the CTDs to stop demanding payment of the advertising fee from advertisers.

According to the CUY, the municipality is legally allowed to collect revenue from the exploitation of its public domain, as stated in the General Code of CTDs law from December 24, 2019. "The CTD has the right to generate revenue, other than taxes, from its domain (territory). Domain revenue is not subject to the rules applicable to tax levies. The setting of the rates related thereto is the responsibility of the municipal councils (Article 167 of the General Code of CTDs)," argues Luc Messi Atangana, the mayor of the city.

"Whatever designation is given to these rights: simply a fee in the law governing advertising in Cameroon, an advertising fee by advertising agents, a fee for advertising space by the General Tax Directorate, or a concession fee for advertising spaces by CTDs, it's the same reality: Any individual or entity broadcasting advertisements must obtain authorization from the competent authority and compensate accordingly. In other words: no authorization, no payment, no advertising broadcast," he wrote in a correspondence dated July 12, 2022, addressed to Guinness Cameroon.

On April 11, the Urban Community of Yaoundé launched a campaign to dismantle illegal advertising in Yaoundé. The operation, which runs until April 26, aims to remove unauthorized advertising posters along roadsides, unauthorized advertising devices on buildings, and defective or unauthorized billboards, the mayor of the city explains. Luc Messi Atangana says this operation comes after "a long period" of awareness-raising. This initiative aims not only to clean up the advertising sector but also to strengthen the authority of the CUY by ensuring the collection of advertising fees due.