Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a law that establishes a mandatory 75 percent share of Ukrainian-language content on television on June 9, according to the Verkhovna Rada’s website.
The Verkhovna Rada passed the bill envisaging the mandatory 75 percent quota for the Ukrainian language content in television and radio programs on May 23.
The law amended laws ‘On Television and Radio Broadcasting’, ‘On Culture’ and ‘On Fundamentals of State Language Policy’. The law also establishes fines of 5 percent of the total amount of the license fee for television organizations which violate its provisions.
The law will enter into force in four months after its publication.
From now on, programs and films shown in the official Ukrainian language should account for at least 75 percent of the entire national and radio television and radio content aired in the periods from 7 a.m. till 6 p.m. and from 6 p.m. till 10 p.m. The quota was set at 60 percent of programs and films shown in the state Ukrainian language in the same periods of time by local television and radio broadcasters.
Broadcasting organizations that broadcast in the languages of indigenous peoples of Ukraine should ensure a total weekly volume of television broadcasting in the state language and languages of indigenous peoples of Ukraine in the amount of at least 75 percent, with at least 30 percent in the state language.
At the same time, the compulsory share of broadcasting in the state language does not apply to foreign broadcasters, and television and radio broadcasting organizations, which specialize showing scientific and educational programs in the official languages of the EU, the Ukrainian language and the languages of indigenous peoples of Ukraine, as well as TV and radio organizations, which broadcast educational programs aimed at learning foreign languages.
