For the first time in the history of mega-format outdoor advertising in Poland, a resident of a 'wrapped up' building is taking the advertising company to court for shadowing her windows without permission.

Peter Gentle reports

'Building wrap' advertising in large Polish cities is a popular way of raising money for renovation of worn out facades. Opinions of passers by vary. Some like the view, others complain:

[MAN] 'I think it's terrible. You see it everywhere here in Warsaw, all I see is just advertisement everywhere.'

[MAN] 'Sometimes advertisement is nicer than the original building facades.'

However, if you ask residents of the buildings wrapped in advertising, you will find very few enthusiasts of the idea. Especially since apparently they are never asked for permission and often the advertising is installed even against their protest.

A resident of one such building in Warsaw decided to go to court. During the day, she is deprived of daylight and at night she complains about the light flooding her apartment.

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights got involved in the case. Adam Bodnar of the organization says installing 'building wrap' advertisement without the residents' permission violates their privacy rights and building regulations: 'First of all we have to remember article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and about privacy rights in general, and the respect of our family life. We are of the opinion that depriving someone of light during the day and then forcing too much light on that person at night against their will, violates their right to privacy. Secondly, it should be considered whether this situation is not also against building regulations if each resident is not asked for permission.'

Tomasz Gamdzyk works at Warsaw City council in the department dealing with esthetics of public space. He explains that according to expertise commissioned by the city, residents of buildings wrapped in advertising should be asked for permission: 'The windows, as opposed to the facade, belong to one particular apartment and its owner. So the permission to install advertising outside windows should come both from the building management as well as from apartment owners.'
 
Obvious as it may seem, the law is very difficult to execute in this case, adds Gamdzyk: 'This problem touches all Polish cities. If we compare the Polish situation to western Europe, it seems that without concrete law regulations on state level delegated to local governments, we will only end up in more chaos and mess.'

If a resident refuses to agree to the 'building wrap', the city may order the removal of the advertising. For this, however, the company has to receive documents from the city within a specific time limit, which is easy to evade. In most cases, the removal order is issued to late anyway, when the advert is already gone or replaced by a new one and the complaint procedure has to start from scratch.