Outdoor Advertising Practices in Austraila, Europe, and Japan

Although the Highway Beautification Act (HBA) has been credited with reducing the number of
nonconforming signs and removing illegal signs throughout the country, the law is controversial and costly to administer. Many have questioned whether it has controlled outdoor advertising or met the intent of the U.S. Congress. The Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and National Cooperative Highway Research program sponsored a scanning study of Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to learn how they regulate outdoor advertising both inside and outside the roadway right-of-way. The scan team also conducted a desk scan of outdoor advertising practices in Japan.
In its study, the scan team observed the following: (1) context-sensitive and safety-oriented laws and regulations, (2) no regulation of nonconforming signs or distinction between on-premise and off-premise signs, (3) emphasis on safety and environmental impacts in guidelines and permit requirements, and (4) more collaboration between outdoor advertising stakeholders than in the United States. The scan team assembled implementation ideas under the following improvement goals: streamlining the program, improving efficiency, improving transparency, adopting a context-sensitive approach, and enhancing safety.