Starting from January 16, all print media in Ukraine are to switch to the Ukrainian language, in accordance with amendments to the law on language that comes into force on Sunday, APA reports.
"In accordance with the law, print mass media can be produced in other languages, on the condition that the number of copies issued in a foreign language is equal to the number of copies issued in the state language [Ukrainian]," State Language Protection Commissioner Taras Kremin said in a Facebook post. "All language versions must be issued under the same name and be equal to each other in terms of content, volume, printing techniques. They must enter circulation under the same number and on the same day."
The only exception for this rule are regional media, obliged to switch to the Ukrainian language by July 2024. Ukrainian-language print media must account for at least 50% of assortment at every newspaper kiosk in the country.
The law will not be applicable to print media in minority languages (spoken by Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks), as well as in English or any other official EU language. The Russian language is not among those exceptions.
Violations to this law will be punishable with a fine of up to 8,500 hryvnia ($300), which will be increased if the offense is repeated. Its observation will be monitored by an official known as language commissioner and his regional offices, as well as public activists and ordinary citizens, who are to notify the language commissioner’s office about violations.
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