01 February 2008, 14:19
The Bill (Reg. No. 1435) defines obligations of the authority bodies and officials at the territory of Ukraine regarding Ukrainian language as the State language in Ukraine, and relevant citizens´ rights in the field of using Ukrainian language as official.
Inter alia, the Bill specifies the status of Ukrainian language as official, defines regulations, material media and sources of the State language of Ukraine, represented by dictionaries, guides and explanations, modern literary conventional standards of Ukrainian language. Moreover, the Bill defines the fields of State language use; authorizes public authority bodies to make qualification demands to the officials regarding their level of knowledge of and proficiency in Ukrainian language; determines State guarantees of support and protection of Ukrainian language as the State language of Ukraine.
The People´s Deputies, P.Movchan and V.Yavorivsky, the authors of the Bill, state that the Constitution of Ukraine declares Ukrainian language as the State language of Ukraine. The Constitution declares general statements and fails to specify the demands regarding practical use of Ukrainian language as the State language of Ukraine. Moreover, the Constitution does not define the obligations of the public authority and local self-government bodies regarding preservation, support and development of the State language of Ukraine.
The authors of the Bill believe that adoption of the Bill will facilitate consolidation of efforts of the public authority bodies regarding realization of citizens´ rights in the field of use of Ukrainian language as the official language. It will also turn the State language into a convenient and universal means of implementation of citizens´ rights and liberties.