Background

-The Kigali City Council passed outdoor advertising regulations in 2012, published in the Official Gazette as No. 05/12 of 28/10/2012. The new regulations were designed to comply with the traffic and road safety laws.

-In December 2015 all outdoor advertisers and stakeholders were requested to comply with the new regulations within a period of 6 months.

-In September 2016, the City of Kigali met members of the Rwanda Outdoor Adverting Association on several occasions and there was an agreement to implement the standards within a two weeks period. However, the members of the association acted selectively, and removed only the billboards belonging to non-association members.

-In consultations with the billboard owners and other stakeholders, the Kigali City Council amended billboard advertising instructions No. 05/12 of 28/10/2012 to not only comply with the road safety laws but also modernize outdoor advertising in the City of Kigali. This amendment was published in the Official Gazette No. 42 of 17/10/2016.

-In October 2016 the City of Kigali invited members of Rwanda Outdoor Adverting Association to take part in the tender process for outdoor advertising in accordance with the new standards. To accommodate the local businessmen dealing in outdoor advertising, the City of Kigali changed the tender from international to local. Rather than take part, seven of the Association members opted to go to High Court to seek an injunction to stop the tender process. They lost the court case.

Note to the Editors:

-The new billboard advertising directive is meant to comply with traffic and road safety laws, which most existing billboards did not conform to.

-The Billboard advertisers were engaged on several occasions and they were involved in the process of setting these standards.  

-The City of Kigali amended the outdoor advertising tender from an international tender to a local one in order accommodate them. Some members submitted their bids.

-The outdoor advertising tender opportunities are still available and outdoor advertising companies can take part in the remaining lots.

Stand of the City of Kigali:
 
After the High Court verdict authorising the City of Kigali  to go ahead with implementing the new outdoor advertising regulations,  The City of Kigali will proceed with the Implementation of the City Council instructions on outdoor advertising No. 01/09 of 15/09/2016 published in the Official Gazette on 17th October 2016. These instructions gave advertisers a grace period of one month for implementation and that period expired on 18th November 2016.