They propose increasing fines for violating Ukraine’s language law: what could change

Ukraine’s Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, Olena Ivanovska, has appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers with a proposal to increase administrative fines for violating Ukraine’s language law.

This was reported by the media, citing a Facebook post by the language ombudsman.

Ivanovska said she had asked the government to initiate an increase in administrative fines for violations of the law “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language.”

This could be done by introducing amendments to Ukraine’s Code of Administrative Offenses (CUAO).

The language ombudsman explained that her appeal to the Prime Minister notes that the current sanctions:

• do not perform an adequate preventive function;

• in practice do not deter violators.

“The current amounts of administrative penalties for violating the requirements of the Law ‘On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language’ do not provide a proper preventive effect and do not encourage offenders to remedy the violations,” Ivanovska said.

She added that “in a number of cases, paying the fine is less burdensome than bringing one’s activities into compliance with the requirements of the legislation.”

Therefore, in her view, strengthening administrative liability is a necessary condition for ensuring:

• the real effectiveness of language legislation;

• respect for the letter of the law;

• respect for the state language as a constitutional value and an element of Ukraine’s national security.

Ivanovska drew attention to the fact that in recent years the number of citizens’ complaints about violations of language legislation has been growing.

In particular, this concerns:

• the service sector;

• advertising;

• internet resources;

• public information.

She noted that the low level of responsibility for such offenses:

• undermines the very idea of state oversight;

• creates a sense of impunity among violators.

“Symbolic fines are not commensurate with the economic benefit that certain businesses gain by systematically ignoring the requirements of the law, and therefore do not motivate voluntary compliance with language norms,” she explained.

Recall that earlier, Ukraine’s language ombudsman Olena Ivanovska proposed abolishing the “special status of Russian” in Ukraine and explained whether it is possible to ban Russian-language versions of websites.