A new draft law, No. 15356, has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, putting an end to the use of the aggressor state's language in the commercial sector. The document proposes to exclude the Russian language from the labeling of goods and services, which will be another step in strengthening national sovereignty and language security.

Symbolic presence and national security

The initiative was developed against the backdrop of a full-scale war, when language policy ceased to be just a cultural issue and became an element of national security. The authors of the draft law emphasize in the explanatory note that the current legislation does not contain clear prohibitions on duplicating information in the language of the enemy. This creates conditions for the so-called "symbolic presence" of the aggressor in the Ukrainian economic and information space.

The goal of the document is to minimize this influence and ensure legal guarantees for the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the sole state language. The draft law provides for amendments to three key regulatory acts:

  • Law "On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language";
  • Law "On Information for Consumers on Food Products";
  • Law "On the Safety and Hygiene of Feed".

Product review and entry into force

In the event that the law is adopted, enterprises using multilingual labeling or advertising materials will face the need for an urgent review of their products. Manufacturers and retailers will be required to bring all information carriers into compliance with the new requirements, excluding the aggressor's language from the labeling.

The law provides for prompt entry into force: it will come into effect the day after its official publication. This means that businesses will have to quickly adapt to the new rules to avoid possible sanctions.

Context: from the Charter to Constitutions

This initiative is not an isolated event. It fits into a broader trend of changing the status of the Russian language in the region. As early as June, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed a law excluding the Russian language from the text of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The goal of the Charter is to protect minority languages, but under wartime conditions, Kyiv deemed it necessary to reconsider this approach.

Parallel changes are taking place in neighboring countries. Kazakhstan, for example, in the draft of the new constitution, plans to change the wording defining the status of the Russian language. These processes indicate that language policy in Eastern Europe is undergoing a fundamental transformation reflecting new geopolitical realities.