The number of protocols for violations of the language law has increased by 1.7 times in 2024
Although complaints have decreased, the number of penalties is rising
25 October 2024
As of mid-October 2024, the Secretariat of the Language Commissioner in Ukraine has issued 216 protocols for violations of the Law on Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language. This is already 1.7 times more than the total for last year. At the same time, complaints about violations of the language law have decreased this year. So far, 64 fines and 91 warnings have been issued for language law violations.
In 2024, there have been 1,808 citizen complaints regarding violations of the language law in Ukraine—1.7 times fewer than during the same period last year. This year, an average of 180 complaints are received per month, compared to 300 per month last year.
The main issues reported are the lack of a Ukrainian-language version of websites, accounting for 525 complaints (29%). Service in Russian led to 288 complaints (16%), and 247 complaints (14%) were related to advertising.
| Lack of ukrainian website version | 525 | 29.0% |
|---|---|---|
| Service in russian | 288 | 15.9% |
| Advertising | 247 | 13.7% |
| Education and Science | 125 | 6.9% |
| Culture | 103 | 5.7% |
| Healthcare | 101 | 5.6% |
| State and local government | 99 | 5.5% |
| Goods and services | 99 | 5.5% |
| Media | 96 | 5.3% |
| Transportation | 48 | 2.7% |
| Book publishing and distribution | 24 | 1.3% |
| Sports | 20 | 1.1% |
| Other issues | 33 | 1.8% |
Kyiv remains the leader in language law complaints, with 706 cases reported this year. Other regions with high numbers of complaints include Odesa (326 complaints), Kharkiv (149 complaints), and Dnipro (148 complaints).
Although the number of complaints has decreased, enforcement has strengthened, with 216 violation protocols issued this year as of October 16, a 1.7 times increase over the 128 protocols issued in all of 2023.
Most protocols concern the absence of a Ukrainian version of websites (Article 27 of the Law) — 42% of the total. This year, the number is three times higher than last year.
Currently, 64 fines have been issued for language law violations — three times more than in all of 2023. Additionally, 91 warnings have been issued, compared to 61 last year.
Source: Opendatabot
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