In Ukraine, 1,808 appeals from citizens about violations of language legislation were recorded over the year, and the number of fines tripled
As of mid-October 2024, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language in Ukraine has drawn up 216 protocols for violations of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Ensuring the Functioning of Ukrainian as the State Language’. This is already 70% more than in the previous year. At the same time, the number of appeals regarding violations of language legislation has decreased this year. As of now, 64 fines have been imposed and 91 warnings have been issued for violations of the language law. This data was published by Opendatabot.
In total, 1,808 appeals from citizens about violations of language legislation were recorded over the year, which is 1.7 times less than in the same period last year. On average, 180 complaints are received every month, while last year this figure was around 300 per month.
According to the analysis, the most frequent violations relate to the lack of a Ukrainian-language version of websites – 525 appeals, or 29% of the total number of complaints. The second most frequent reason for complaints is the service in Russian, which caused 288 complaints (16%). Another 14% of violations, or 247 complaints, concerned advertising.
Photo/omr.gov.ua
As for the geography of violations, most complaints were received from Kyiv – 706 appeals this year. The regions with the highest rates also include Odesa (326 complaints), Kharkiv (149 complaints) and Dnipro (148 complaints). According to analysts, although the total number of appeals has decreased, the number of penalties for violations has increased. This year, 216 protocols were drawn up, which is 1.7 times more than in the whole of 2023, when 128 protocols were drawn up.
Most of the protocols relate to the lack of a Ukrainian-language version of websites (Article 27 of the Law) – such violations account for 42% of all cases, and this year their number has tripled compared to last year. So far, 64 fines have been imposed for violations of the language law, which is three times more than in all of 2023. In addition, 91 warnings have already been issued, compared to 61 last year.
