Ban on Russian musical content in the service sector and expanded use of the Ukrainian language — what the Rada decided

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy supported bills, one of which introduces a ban on playing hostile music content in the service sector, while the other expands the mandatory use of the Ukrainian language by officials and educators. This was reported by UNN, citing the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

Details

In accordance with Draft Law No. 15430, amendments are proposed to Articles 30 and 57 of the Law of Ukraine "On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language."

Article 30 of the Law is supplemented with Part Nine, according to which the performance and/or playing, while serving consumers, of songs and other musical works with lyrics, as well as phonograms, videograms and music videos containing their recorded performance, constitutes such service and is carried out in the state language or any other language except the state (official) language of a state recognized by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as an aggressor state (occupying state). At the same time, it is clarified that the rule on personally serving a client in another language at the client's request will not apply to musical accompaniment. Amendments to Article 57 of the Law introduce a special procedure for imposing fines for violations of the requirements regarding such performance and/or playing of musical works while serving consumers. The report is drawn up by the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language or the Commissioner's representative without prior issuance of a warning and a demand to remedy the violation. For the first violation, a fine of between five hundred and one thousand tax-free minimum incomes of citizens (from UAH 8,500 to UAH 17,000) is established; for a repeated violation within a year, from one to five thousand (from UAH 17,000 to UAH 85,000); and for a third and each subsequent violation within a year, from five to ten thousand tax-free minimum incomes of citizens (from UAH 85,000 to UAH 170,000)

In addition, this legal act provides for an increase in the fine for a repeated violation within a year of other requirements of Article 30 of the Law, which has not been revised since the Law was adopted. This concerns increasing the amount from three hundred–four hundred (from UAH 5,100–6,800) to five hundred–one thousand tax-free minimum incomes of citizens (up to UAH 8,500–17,000).

At the same time, Draft Law No. 15412 provides for amendments to certain laws of Ukraine concerning ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language.

In particular, members of parliament propose expanding the list of persons for whom proficiency in the state language is mandatory while performing their official duties, improving procedures for state oversight and the consideration of complaints, strengthening guarantees for the use of the Ukrainian language in certain areas of public life, and also amending a number of legislative acts in the fields of education, culture, local self-government, electoral legislation, and others.

We remind you

In Kyiv, a lyceum teacher was fined UAH 3,400 for showing first-graders a cartoon in Russian.