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All wrongly placed billboards along roads and streets in the Accra metropolis are to be removed by June this year. Henceforth, advertising agencies are to seek the approval of metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDA�s) on the technical specifications regarding the design, installation and location of billboards before placing them along the roads. This was the outcome of a stakeholders meeting on outdoor advertising, attended by the Advertisers Association of Ghana (AAG), the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), the Department of Urban Roads (DUR), the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Safety Ghana, the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and road safety advocates. It was organised by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) in Accra to discuss the unauthorised erection of billboards across the country and its effect on road users. Speaking at the meeting, the Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation of the NRSC, Mr David Osafo Adonteng, said it was unpardonable for advertisers to ignore advertising guidelines to the detriment of road users. �We are not out to disturb anybody�s business but we think if an advertisement will constitute a danger or hazard, then we are interested and that is where we will use the appropriate mechanism to address the problem,� he said. Mr Adonteng advised the assemblies to follow due process in issuing advertising permits, particularly those for billboards. In his remarks, the Executive Director of the AAG, Mr Francis Dadzie, said the association was ready to comply with the rules and regulations for erecting billboards saying, �We are ready to enforce the law as it brings credibility to the advertising business.� For his part, an Engineer with the GHA, Mr Ernest Boakye, said the organisation had started issuing notices to advertisers who had flouted the regulations on outdoor advertising. He said it was worrying to see some billboards crowded at one point and causing heavy traffic because they distracted the attention of drivers.