On Nov. 5, 2014, the Russian government passed a "CALM" law in an attempt to get some relief from excessively loud commercials. The new law will require broadcasters to ensure that the TV and radio advertisements broadcasted on their stations maintain the same volume as the entertainment programming during which they are featured.
The law will be enforced by both the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and the Ministry of Communications. It is the Ministry of Communications which will be establishing the requirements regarding the permitted average volume level of commercials and TV programming (which regulations are expected to come into effect on May 1, 2015), and the FAS which will be enforcing said regulations.
Similar regulations or "CALM" laws have also been passed in other countries, such as in the United States (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act), the U-K (The UK Code of Broadcast Advertising) and Canada (ATSC Recommended Practice A/85: Techniques for Establishing and Maintaining Audio Loudness for Digital Television).
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