In 2022-2023, violators of the language law were fined more than 125,000 hryvnias – News

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The Language Ombudsman imposed 34 fines for violations of language legislation in 2022-2023. The total amount of fines reaches UAH 125.8 thousand.

In the period from 2020 to February 20, 2024, the language ombudsman carried out 460 measures of state control over the use of the state language. Another 95 are currently being processed, Taras Kremin, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, reports in response to an “Interfax” request.

In 2023, the language ombudsman received 30% more complaints about violations of the language law than in 2022.

In 2022, fines for language legislation violations totaled 27,200 UAH, in 2023 – 85,000 UAH, and from the beginning of 2024 – 13,600 UAH.

In total, during 2023, a record number of complaints about violations of language legislation were received – about 3,700. Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Poltava and Mykolaiv were most often mentioned.

Most of the complaints related to the lack of a Ukrainian version of online stores and websites, violations in the field of service, media, culture, authorities and educational institutions.

“These statistics indicate both the increase in the number of violations of the language law and the critical sensitivity of Ukrainian citizens to defending their language rights. In the conditions of war, the state language became one of the main factors of national security, a symbol of the fight against the enemy, a factor of dignity and freedom.” – noted then the Commissioner Taras Kremin.

It will be recalled that Taras Kremin, the state language protection commissioner, recently stated that school heads will be held responsible for non-compliance with the language law.

Anna Stopenko, “UP. Life”