Article 25 of the law of Ukraine on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language came into force for local print media on Tuesday to regulate the use of the state language by them, the Secretariat of the State Language Protection Commissioner said.

"Starting in July 2019, we have had seven waves of implementation: the Ukrainian language has become mandatory for most areas – advertising, education, culture, services, transport, healthcare, etc. And today, on the fifth anniversary of the law, the eighth wave starts – Article 25 regulating the use of the state language by local print media enters into force," it said.

In particular, as previously reported, according to Article 25, the presence of a version in the state language is mandatory for all printed media in Ukraine, and if there are versions in other languages, they must have the same name, content, volume and method of printing, and their releases must have the same serial numbers and be issued on the same day.

Also, distribution by subscription of printed media published in a non-state language is permitted provided that it is possible to subscribe in Ukraine to the same publication in the state language.

In addition, in each distribution location (newspaper displays in the subway, at train stations, in supermarkets, at gas stations), printed media in the state language must make up at least 50% of the printed media titles distributed in that location.

At the same time, a number of requirements do not apply to printed media published exclusively in the Crimean Tatar language, in other languages of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine, in English, in another official language of the European Union, regardless of whether they contain texts in the state language, and for scientific publications.