May was relatively uneventful in the spheres of media and digital rights regulation, with the main attention of the legislative and executive branches representatives shifting towards a diplomatic track and the potential ceasefire. Nevertheless, in the month’s final days, the […]

In the wake of the screening meeting in Brussels on Chapter X of the acquis communutaire, Ukrainian legislators continued their movement towards transposing EU standards in the spheres of media and digital transformation. Long-discussed legislation on media services provided under

March marked the progress of several EU integration initiatives intended to further Ukraine’s compliance with the acquis communutaire. The long-awaited amendments to the Law on Advertising were passed in the first reading, while the subcommittee of the Parliamentary Committee on

In February, the main newsmaker was the media regulator. Apart from its usual activities on combatting Russian influence in the media and preparing its yearly report, NBC controversially decided not to penalize one media outlet for breaching linguistic legislation in

2025 began with active internal parliamentary activities. While only one important piece of legislation was adopted, the parliamentary committees prepared several others for adoption in the upcoming months. The Verkhovna Rada has also extended martial law until 9 May 2025,

The final month of 2024 was marked by significant parliamentary activity in the spheres of freedom of expression and media regulation. The MPs adopted the amendments to the Law on Media in the first reading, bringing it closer to European

While this month was relatively quiet for the regulator’s work, Verkhovna Rada revived a number of ideas that were considered buried forever after the MPs had not paid attention to them in almost a year. The GDPR-styled Law on Personal Data Protection will be subject to extensive debate on balancing privacy versus free speech before the second reading, as will the draft laws on the decriminalization of porn and changes in the advertising regulation, with both topics being sensitive for the Ukrainian society.

In October, some long-awaited events influencing the Ukrainian media sector occurred. The MPs registered the draft amendments to the Law on Media, which aim to fix certain bugs in its implementation practice. Ukrainian Parliament also proceeded with the selection of the expired member in the media regulator, which is necessary to enhance NBC’s independence in light of the EU Enlargement Report’s recommendations and the lack of the regulator’s funding for the next year in the draft budget. Co-regulation also kept evolving, with the first body announcing certain important calls for management and expert positions.

September was marked by the governmental overhaul, which led to the appointment of the permanent minister of culture and strategic communications, and the beginning of the budget process for the upcoming year. The security services added their position to the Telegram regulatory debate, recommending its ban on public officials’ devices. The legislator and the media regulator were largely silent this month despite submitting certain amendments to the Criminal Code: no laws or important regulations were adopted.

European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) is the regulation adopted by the EU in April 2024 to safeguard media pluralism and editorial independence in an environment undergoing rapid digital transformation. Digital Security Lab Ukraine analyzed the norms of Ukrainian legislation, which will require harmonization with the European Media Freedom Act, and prepared recommendations in 10 key spheres that reflect EMFA’s provisions to be implemented prior to EU accession.