The Bill (Reg. No. 1066) proposes that not only Ukrainian, but also Russian language can be used whilst placing a request for a patent for industrial samples.
However, pursuant to Article 10 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Ukrainian language is the State language of Ukraine, and the State ensures the comprehensive development and functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of social life throughout the entire territory of Ukraine. According to the Resolution of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (№10-reg. no.99 of 14 December 1999), "social spheres, where the State language is used, include the fields of authorities of legislative, executive and judicial bodies, other State bodies and local self-government bodies (language of acts, work, office work, documents etc)".
The Committee members believe that relations in the field of protection of rights of industrial samples belong to the said social spheres where the State language is to be used.
Moreover, the Bill envisages use of only Russian language and fails to mention the languages of other national minorities, which results in their unequal legal status. Such an approach fails to comply with Article 24 of the Constitution of Ukraine that qualifies benefits or restrictions on the grounds of language as illegitimate.
The Committee members also drew attention to the statement of the Preamble of The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, pursuant to which "protection and development of regional or minority languages should not hamper the use of official languages". However, adoption of the Bill can result into limited sphere of use of the State language in the field of protection of rights of industrial samples.