“Language law” in the service sector: regulations and liability for violation

The law on the state language in Ukraine obliges all businesses to switch to the Ukrainian language, including the service sector. The innovations will be relevant for all workers in the beauty industry, including salon owners, nail technicians, makeup artists, hairdressers and cosmetologists.

To understand in detail all aspects of the new norm, we turned to the lawyer of the Estet company, Liliya Minskaya, for help.

We can talk for a long time about the national idea, the linguistic identification of an individual as a citizen of Ukraine, the absurdity of the widespread use of the language of the aggressor country, but for many these are just lofty words, a theory of no practical significance, and also double standards. Meanwhile, according to sociologists, more than half of the country’s residents consider Ukrainian their native language. For their part, the majority of Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine understand the state language without problems. Recently, Ukrainians have begun to mainly speak Ukrainian, so the issue of introducing the Ukrainian language in the service sector is now relevant.

What does Article 30 of the Law of Ukraine “On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language” regulate?

The language of customer service in Ukraine is the state language.

Enterprises, institutions and organizations of all forms of ownership, individual entrepreneurs, other business entities serving consumers (except for the cases established by part three of this article), provide services and provide information about goods (services), including through online stores and Internet catalogues, in the state language. Information in the state language may be duplicated in other languages.
At the client's request, personal service may also be provided in another language acceptable to the parties.

An e-commerce entity registered in Ukraine, during its activities and when distributing a commercial electronic message, is obliged to ensure that all information specified by the Law of Ukraine “On Electronic Commerce”, including regarding the subject of the electronic contract, is provided in the state language.

Information about goods and services on the territory of Ukraine is provided in the state language.
Manufacturers (performers, sellers) in Ukraine of all forms of ownership provide consumers with information about products, works or services in the state language. Such information may be duplicated in any other language.

Information about products (goods), works or services specified in part six of this article is brought to the attention of the consumer in the manner, manner and to the extent determined by the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of Consumer Rights”.

In information about products, works or services provided in the state language, it is allowed to use words, abbreviations, abbreviations and designations in English and/or using letters of the Latin and/or Greek alphabets.

If, in addition to the state language, information about goods and services is also provided in other languages, the volume of information about goods and services in the state language cannot be less than the mandatory volume of information in accordance with the requirements established by the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”.

What needs to be done to prevent violation of the Law?

1. All documentation located in the beauty salon - consumer corner, price lists, catalogs, signs and designations must be translated into Ukrainian.

2. It is necessary to train staff to master a minimum of competent Ukrainian language, create scripts and/or language modules that employees need to use when communicating with clients. The purpose of such tools is not only to facilitate the use of the Ukrainian language, but to increase the level of sales and the quality of communication.

Perhaps the salon manager has not previously thought about what and how his employees say and how this affects the salon’s income level - now is the time to establish this process and “kill two birds with one stone”!

What liability comes with violating the Law?

The final provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language” provide for administrative liability for violation of the Law. However, the introduction of this norm has been postponed for three years in order to provide citizens with enough time to master Ukrainian at the proper level.

True, it is not yet completely clear for what violations of Art. 30 of Law No. 2704, in practice a fine may be applied. For example, the Law does not explain how an enterprise can be proven and held accountable if its employee refused to serve a client in Ukrainian, and how it can be confirmed that he committed such a violation.

Can they now be held administratively liable for breaking the law?

No, they can't now.

However, according to paragraph 1 of section. IX of the said Law, fines for violating the language law will become a reality in less than 2 years. Then the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Violations will be supplemented with two new articles – Art. 188-52 and 188-53, which will come into force on July 16, 2022. For example, enterprises can be fined under Part 2 of Art. 188-52 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for violation of the requirements of the Law regarding the use of the state language in the field of education, science, culture, book publishing, in user interfaces of computer programs and websites, in the field of information for general information, public events, technical and design documentation, advertising, healthcare, sports, telecommunications and postal services, transport. The fine for such a violation ranges from 200 to 300 thousand rubles (from 3,400 to 5,100 UAH). Or it will be a warning if this is the first violation.

They may also be brought to administrative liability in the event of repeated failure to comply with the legal requirements of the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language during state control over the use of the state language (Article 188-53 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). Such an offense entails a fine on officials in the amount of 100 to 200 NMDG (from 1,700 to 3,400 UAH). Cases of administrative offenses related to violation of legislation in the field of application of the state language and failure to comply with the legal requirements of the representative of the Commissioner (Articles 188-52 and 188-53) will be considered by the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language according to protocols drawn up by his representatives.

Of course, by the time administrative responsibility becomes a reality, a lot of time will have passed, so this time should not be wasted and used with maximum benefit for yourself and your business.

From my own legal experience, I can assure you that for a person who is bilingual (like, by the way, the vast majority of the population of Ukraine), and fluently understands both Ukrainian and Russian, the transition to using Ukrainian specifically in work processes is not particularly difficult - here are the difficulties in most cases, in the lack of conversational skills and knowledge of special terms. But after a very short time, the Ukrainian language in professional use becomes not only easy - it becomes the only possible one!

As the modern Spanish politician José Maria Arze said, a language disappears not because others do not learn it, but because those who know it do not speak it. Therefore, we protect our language and are actively involved in the processes of implementing the Law of Ukraine “On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language”!