An appeal to help a foreign language newspaper comes in another foreign language. But the funniest thing is that instead of appealing for a change in the law, Sunden is appealing for an exception from the law to his newspaper. I wonder if he acquired such peculiar understanding of "equal protection" thru too-close-a-contact with Kuchma's gang, or is it Sunden's independent achievement.
of course it is in english and ukrainian too but hasn't been hung out on the net.
it's an interesting story, though, and a classic example of tomenko's incompetency, legal nihilism and the reigning chaos.
you seem to know something about jed hanging around kuchma's buddies.
why don't you say what?
Watermellons in a Cage (Part II)
By Peter Byrne, Kyiv Post Staff Writer
Sep 25, 2003 00:08
Oleksy Boyko
KP Publications President Jed Sunden, left, speaks to the newspaper’s editors and journalists in the Kyiv Post newsroom on Sept. 24 about problems that amendments to the advertising law may cause for the publication.
A hastily enacted amendment to the nation’s law regulating advertising has caused an uproar among advertising agencies, publishers and trademark-protection activists, who are worried about the law’s sweeping effects and looking into what can be done to minimize the damage.
As parliament prepared for adjournment last July 11, it passed a legislative package of changes to the country’s law on advertising. One of the innocuous-looking 255 amendments proposed required that advertising be done only in Ukrainian.
Parliament gave the bill unanimous support, and President Leonid Kuchma signed it on Sept. 15. It will become law after it is published in the government’s official newspaper.
The provision requiring advertising in Ukrainian is contained in article 6 of the bill. The amendment, introduced by lawmaker Stepan Havrysh, has brought chaos to the nation’s foreign-language newspapers, trademark owners and the advertising industry.
The law will have a disastrous impact on advertising revenues for newspapers like the Kyiv Post, which publishes in English. Because many of the newspaper’s readers would be unable to read ads in Ukrainian, advertisers would likely abandon the publication. Publications printed in other languages, including Russian, would likely be impacted to a lesser degree.
The State Committee for Technical Regulation and Consumer Rights is responsible for enforcing compliance with the new law, and for levying fines against violators. Under the law, publications that print advertising in other than Ukrainian could be subject to penalties equal to four times the cost of the ad.
STRC Deputy Head Oleh Kobelkov told the Post on Sept. 24 that his office has been swamped with inquiries from Russian-language newspapers from predominately Russian-speaking eastern oblasts about what they should do to avoid being fined.
“We recognize, of course, that there is a problem,” said Kobelkov, who emphasized that his office has received no instructions on how to proceed.
Kobelkov added that his committee receives instructions from the government council on advertising issues chaired by Dmitro Tabachnyk, deputy prime minister in charge of humanitarian issues. Kuchma appointed him last November.
Havrysh’s Ukrainian-only amendment received scant attention from parliament’s committee on free speech and information, which first vetted the 255 proposed amendments to the advertising law.
Parliamentary sources indicated that the amendment’s effect on foreign language publications was an unforeseen consequence.
Committee chair Mykola Tomenko on Sept. 24 refused to say why he supported the change, referring the Post to committee staff.
“We are aware of the difficulties that this new provision could pose for the Kyiv Post and other foreign-language newspapers, and will do everything in our power to minimize the possible negative effects,” said the staffer, who asked to remain anonymous.
Stepan Havrysh told the Post through his assistant Oksana Kozak that his amendment was not intended to put the Kyiv Post or any other foreign-language media out of business. Havrysh said he would be willing to discuss the issue with the owners of foreign-language media after he returned to Kyiv on Sept. 25.
Our Ukraine deputy Yury Artemenko, one of the co-authors of the new law, told the Post on Sept. 23 that committee members had not seriously considered Havrysh’s amendment before it was adopted on July 11.
“Unfortunately, the deputies were in a rush to start their summer vacations,” said Artemenko, whose Zaporizhya-based Russian-language weekly MIG decided this week to begin running its advertisements in Ukrainian.
“This practice is idiotic, but we’re doing it anyway,” said Artemenko, who told the Post he and Tomenko would attend a Sept. 29 session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to debate a resolution on Ukraine’s honoring its commitments to the council.
Britain’s Minister for Europe Dennis McShane said in Kyiv last week that Ukraine’s media situation would be among the issues discussed during an upcoming EU-Ukraine summit in Yalta on Oct. 7.
Ukraine’s previous advertising law provided that media and advertisers should comply with the law on languages. Article 35 of that law reads that the “texts of official announcements, placards and advertisements are to appear in the Ukrainian language.”
Opinions are divided over whether that law applies only to official advertising placed by the government, or has a broader application.
Artemenko criticized fellow lawmakers, including his colleagues from Our Ukraine, for failing to realize how the amendment could affect the Kyiv Post and Russian-language media, specifically newspapers in eastern Ukraine that publish in Russian.
“Other deputies and I are now in the unenviable position of trying to figure out how to change the law,” added Artemenko, who said he regretted any unforeseen consequences caused by the flawed bill.
Oleksandr Turchynov, a leader of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, told the Post on Sept. 22 that he and members of his faction were contemplating more important matters during the 15-minute debate on the bill on July 11.
“We were focused on what specific products should not be advertised, rather than on the language used to promote them,” he said.
Turchynov campaigned successfully to introduce measures regulating the advertisement of tobacco products and tobacco trademarks on TV and radio. Under the new law, TV and radio advertisements for alcohol products and trademarks are prohibited between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.
Ukraine’s constitution guarantees the “free development, use and protection of Russian and other languages,” and the European Charter on Regional and Minority languages obliges Ukraine “to oppose practices designed to discourage the use of regional or minority languages in connection with economic or social activities.” Parliament ratified the charter in May.
Business groups and industry associations including the All-Ukraine Advertising Coalition, the Ukraine Trademark Association and the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine said that the Ukrainian-only provision of the new law appears to be unconstitutional, and that it is contrary to existing Ukrainian law and international treaties.
The Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights, a public-private partnership advancing intellectual property rights protection in the former Soviet Union, said that the new law violates Ukrainian and international intellectual property laws.
“There are more than 75,000 registered trademarks in Ukraine. To require that they be translated into Ukrainian is absurd,” said CIPR’s Kyiv representative, Myron Wasylyk, on Sept. 22.
The nation’s trademark law provides that a registered trademark in Ukraine can be one or several words that cannot be recreated, imitated or translated. Registered trademarks are also protected under Ukraine’s Civil Code and the Paris Convention on the Protection of Industrial Property, to which Ukraine is a signatory.
Wasylyk warned that the mandatory duplication of trademarks and logotypes into Ukrainian would lead to state-sanctioned piracy by allowing recreations, imitations and translation of existing marks, which in turn will only increase piracy and counterfeiting.
Mykola Slezanok, who heads the STRC office in Kyiv, told the Post on Sept. 22 that he has not received or issued any guidance on how to punish those who break the new law.
“We do as we are told, but no one has told us to do anything yet,” Slezanok said.
Advertising agencies that work with the nation’s top television broadcasters, meanwhile, said that they are already prepared to introduce Ukrainian-only commercials, and expressed a willingness to comply with the new law.
Valery Mashtakov, executive director of the Prioritet advertising agency, told the Post on Sept. 23 that the duplication of trademarks and logotypes into the Ukrainian language posed a potential legal problem for his agency, which places commercials on 1+1 and the multi-regional television station Novy Kanal.
“We’re not exactly sure what to do about this yet,” Mashtakov said. “Our lawyers are still trying to figure it out.”
> it's an interesting story, though, and a classic example of tomenko's incompetency, legal nihilism and the reigning chaos.
Well, Sunden successfully matched Tomenko's with his own legal nihilism, calling for exceptions from the law to his newspaper rather than changes in the law.
> you seem to know something about jed hanging around kuchma's buddies.
It is fundamentally their culture to assume that exceptions from the law should be made for them. Of course, it might as well be plain American arrogance, hence the question.
> Oleksy Boyko
...
> “There are more than 75,000 registered trademarks in Ukraine. To require that they be translated into Ukrainian is absurd,” said CIPR’s Kyiv representative, Myron Wasylyk, on Sept. 22.
It is not quite clear though, whether this absurdity is contained in the law or just in Oleksy Boyko's head. I strongly suspect the latter.
peter byrne пише:
> had lawmakers been held accountable by media reporting objective facts - the truth - about the affair, there could have be a different outcome.
Oh, thank you so much for telling me this, for how would I know?
> he sine qua non of tolerance is positive action arising from a sense of responsibility for others.
Really? So it is this sense of responsibility for others that makes Sunden ask for exceptions for himself? Or did I incorrectly understand what was written in that letter? Sorry, but it was not in my language.
> and answer the question, dipshit: what do you know about sunden's cozy relationship with government officials?
No need to introduce yourself again. Looks like low cultural level is one of the prerequisites to work at Kyiv Post. And poor understanding of English must be another, given that you are so stubbornly trying to attribute to me something I never wrote.
start going to court hearings in the district where you live
i've read about five of them. which one do you have in mind?
i'm a lot more interested in what they (deputies/cabinet/presidential adminstration) are going to do about the law than letters from irate publishers.
the media reaction - and the reaction of sceptics reading them - was, of course predictable. but what else can you expect from a society that doesn't care very much if a journalist is kidnapped, beheaded and buried because of their boneheaded president?
When I need advice, I pay for it. I don't remember paying you.
peter byrne пише:
> the media reaction - and the reaction of sceptics reading them - was, of course predictable.
And what was media reaction? I only saw that of Kyiv Post, and only because you posted that link here. Unfortunately there is no printed media in Ukraine worth reading.
>but what else can you expect from a society that doesn't care very much if a journalist is kidnapped, beheaded and buried because of their boneheaded president?
Exactly! Now what?
2003.09.26 | peter byrne
skeptikam
those wondering about the burdens of society in the years to come - far from demonstrating a sense of spiritual tension - today show signs of self-absorption, indifference to justice, and skepticism.
2003.09.26 | peter byrne
Re: You are even more funny, of course
chat with moroz about article 6 on sept. 26 (just ended)
oleksandr oleksandrovych!
vy i chleny vashej fraktsii progolosovali ZA popravku havrysha (stat'ya 6-aya) k zakonu o reklame 11 july 2003.
pochemu? neuzheli schitaete vy i chleny vashej fraktsii chto vse reklamy dolzhny byt' na ukrainskoj move, nesmotrya na to chto ehto oznachit finansovy krakh anglo-yazychnoj gazety kyiv post i desyatok drugikh gazet?
to chto kyiv post yavlyaetsya, tak skazat', "cherepashkoj v akvariume" - ehto ponyatno. chto vy lichno i chleny vashej fraktsii budut delat' dlya togo chtob uspakaivat' reklamodatelej, kotorye ochen' ne khotyat sporit' s temi kotorye otvechayut za ispolenie novogo zakona?
spasibo za vash kontretnye otvety,
> peter byrne
15:18:10 [Олександр_Мороз] belarusian/ Коли вдень голосується 100 законів, можна не запам"ятати.
15:18:55 [belarusian] Олександр_Мороз> Стаття 6. Мова реклами Реклама
розповсюджується на територiї України виключно українською мовою.
15:20:22 [belarusian] Олександр_Мороз> Зареєстрованi у встановленому порядку знаки для товарiв i послуг, логотипи можуть наводитися мовою оригiналу. В такому випадку iншомовний знак для товарiв i послуг, логотип повинен дублюватися українською мовою
15:23:06 [Олександр_Мороз] belarusian> Якщо в Україні буде використовуватися реклама і російською мовою - біди не буде. Одначе у нс достатньо реклами, яка більшості невідома. Дійшло до того, що чужу рекламу прокручують на телебаченні з нікудишнім дублюванням тексту. Днями я повернувся із Стокгольма і не бачив там жодної реклами на "нешведській" мові, окрім хіба що фірмових знаків.
15:27:26 [belarusian] Олександр_Мороз> Держспоживстандарта, Ассоциации
предприятий наружной рекламы и, конечно,инициаторы - Всеукраинская рекламная коалиция. Коротко итоги встречи (только основные моменты и тезисно):- по статье 6. мова рекламы - уже внесен законопроект от Артеменко - там по сути оставлена редакция статьи от закона 1996г. Все присутствовавшие на собрании стороны были единодушны. Принятая статья от Гавриша - "незаконна", неработоспособна...Никого дополнительно в этом убеждать не пришлось.
15:30:33 [Олександр_Мороз] belarusian> Ну далася вам ця реклама... Якщо є пропозиція хороша, значить вона пройде. Переговоріть з Артеменком, я з ним добре знайомий. Будемо відстоювати вашу позицію.
15:32:28 [belarusian] Олександр_Мороз> davajte sdelaem zakon CHTOB
ELEKTRONNAYA POCHTA TOZHE PO UKRAINKI
15:33:27 [Bazilla] belarusian> І це говорить людина, яка пише російською на латинці
15:34:30 [belarusian] Олександр_Мороз> khvatit s menya. ne nado podderzhat' durnye propozitsii. vse. osobenno esli oni ot gavrisha. plokhoj pretsendent.
2003.09.25 | Игорь
То ли птицы летят перелетные, то ли КРЫСЫ бегут с корабля.
Re: То ли птицы летят перелетные, то ли КРЫСЫ бегут с корабля.
Will vote be fair?
By Peter Byrne
Kyiv Post Staff Writer
Sep 2, 1999 01:00
A familiar lesson is re-emerging as Westerners plumb the depths of economic and political change in someone else's - in this case Ukraine's - backyard: Billions in aid dollars, born of good intentions, can't buy democracy. The Oct. 31 presidential election is shaping up as the latest chapter of an old story. This, essentially, is the deal offered to Ukraine by the would-be good guys - the United States and the European Union: They will continue to supply financial assistance to a nearly bankrupt government in exchange for promises to hold free and fair elections. Of course, the visiting Westerners add, it would be great if the chief aid beneficiary - President Leonid Kuchma - would also persevere with the difficult transition to free markets and full-fledged democracy. But, as the Bank of New York money-laundering scandal with Russian and Ukrainian ties shows, life in the former Soviet Union still has its own set of rules. And those are tawdrier when it comes to making money, and far less tolerant when it comes to respect for freedom of inquiry, speech and expression. If Kuchma wins re-election in the upcoming Oct. 31 election, it will be trumpeted on state-controlled television as a triumph over the leftists who would take Ukraine down the wrong path. But the West will make its own evaluation - and embassy row is hoping that it won't be the aviation equivalent of searching for the black-box flight recorder after a plane crash. Already, movement on the economic front appears to have stopped completely - as opposed to moving ahead almost imperceptibly - until after the vote. This is the kind of stagnation that the U.S. government says it does not want. But it is the kind that U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott predicted was likely. At an April 8, 1998, forum on Ukraine-NATO relations, Talbott said Ukrainian politicians may be 'tempted to defer difficult decisions so that they can say and do things that they believe will earn favor with the voters.' 'To put it bluntly, that [sic] is time that Ukraine simply does not have to waste,' Talbott said. 'And we can only hope that elected officials will see that wasting time is bad politics, since a year and a half of finger-pointing, demagoguery, empty promises and inaction on economic reform will only make things worse in October of 1999, not better.' These sentiments aren't getting much attention as the 15 candidates polish their rhetorical apples on the campaign trail. Kuchma's are among the shiniest. In Simferopol on Aug. 30, Kuchma delivered a warning of the grave fate that will await his beloved motherland if he doesn't win re-election. Ukraine 'will find itself in political and economic isolation' if a left-wing candidate wins, Interfax news service quoted the president as saying. 'The world will never agree to restructure or write off our debts, and we will become bankrupt and a default will be declared.' That's the Kuchma strategy that is likely to last throughout the campaign: Hey, folks, vote for me or life will get worse. Allegations of strong-arm tactics by Kuchma backers are just that, his people say. Factory bosses threatened with loss of government contracts? Show the proof, they say. Already, 'independent' political pundits who sound sympathetic to Kuchma are defining the difference between a free and fair election and one that is merely 'legitimate.' Mikhail Pohrebinsky, a well-known political analyst, recently had this to say in an Aug. 31 interview published by the weekly Invest Gazeta. 'There is legality (lawfulness) and there is legitimacy,' said Pohrebinsky, whom Den newspaper considers a Kuchma ally. 'As for legalities, citizens can do nothing 'legally' in a society lacking rule-of-law and a developed civil consciousness ... because any act may be deemed 'unlawful.' It is another matter, though, to acknowledge that these results do not comply with the letter of the law,' Pohrebinsky was quoted as saying. Then he raised the issue of the recent Kyiv mayoral election, in which the incumbent Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko was found by a lower court to have violated the tenets of a fair election by denying his rivals advertising space, among other violations. The Supreme Court overturned the lower court decision and legitimized the election results. Of that controversial contest, Pohrebinsky told the newspaper that the lower court decision may have been 'based on law,' but not necessarily 'just.' If a few rules get broken in the process, Pohrebinsky seemed to say, then so what? 'It will be clear to most people that massive violations took place, but if the results are convincing, legal intricacies and the nature of the infractions will not prevent society from viewing them as 'fair,' and thus legitimate,' the newspaper quoted him as saying. The West, meanwhile, appears to have settled on refereeing from the sidelines, after the fact, after laying out the ground rules in advance. 'A free and fair election will be an important step in the transition to democracy and demonstrate that it is taking firm root in Ukraine,' the United States and the European Union told Ukraine as recently as June 21. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer joined the chorus later in the summer, saying on July 16: 'Voter participation is not the only hallmark of a genuine electoral democracy. The true foundation is the rule-of-law, the principle that in an election all candidates have access to public media, election laws are obeyed, registration is done in a fair and transparent manner, voters and candidates are free from intimidation and other restrictions ...' The West is monitoring the election in various ways. Among those watching is a delegation from the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe. A team of seasoned election specialists arrived in Kyiv on Sept. 1 to monitor Ukraine's media coverage, election laws, registration procedures and polling policies. Over the next months, they will meet with presidential hopefuls, correspondents, non-governmental organization leaders, election commission officials and ordinary citizens. Their findings won't influence or change the outcome of the elections, of course. They will, however, give the Western world better insight into whether Ukraine's next president won a fair fight - or merely just won.
2003.09.25 | peter byrne
шила в мешке не утаишь
2003.09.26 | peter byrne
Закон о Рекламе - последние новости!
Закон о Рекламе - последние новости!
Сегодня, 26.09.03 состоялась очередная встреча в Комитете по свободе слова и
информации ВР.
Присутствовали: представители Комитета, Кабмина (Координационного совета по
рекламе),
Держспоживстандарта, Ассоциации предприятий наружной рекламы и, конечно,
инициаторы - Всеукраинская рекламная коалиция.
Коротко итоги встречи (только основные моменты и тезисно):
по статье 6. мова рекламы - уже внесен законопроект от депутата
Артеменко - там по сути оставлена редакция статьи от закона 1996 г.
Все присутствовавшие на собрании стороны были единодушны. Принятая статья от
Гавриша - "незаконна", неработоспособна...
Никого дополнительно в этом убеждать не пришлось.
(кстати, отправлено очередное письмо в Комитет по этому поводу. на этот раз
подписанное совместно коалицией и Американской Торговой Палатой в Украине).
что беспокоит Комитет и контролеров сегодня особенно?
Не выполняются другие нормы, заложенные в законе.
Да, статья про мову спорна.
Да, не успели сделать новые предупредительные надписи.
Но в законе приведены правила игры и по целому ряду других моментов:
прерывание фильмов, спонсорство новостей, внутренняя реклама табака (не
путать с информацией в местах продажи!).
Причем, эти правила установлены законом не только для рекламистов, но и для
горадминистраций или уважаемого ГАИ, права которого, например,
ограничиваются безопасностью движения.
Ближайшие планы:
у Кабмина:
собрать во вторник, 30.09.2003, специальное заседание Координационного
Совета по рекламе. Там будут присутствовать представители коалиции. Ситуация
под контролем. (хочется верить).
у Комитета по свободе слова:
на ближайшем заседании, а именно в среду, 1.10.2003, намечается голосование в поддержку поправки Артеменко про мову (как первоочередная),
составление и принятие обращения за подписью Головы Комитета, в котором
найдет отражение позиция Комитета по законоприменению (речь пойдет о главных
статьях закона, а также о возможных к неоднозначной трактовке моментах). Это
письмо-звернення обязательно будет получено и опубликовано коалицией.
обсуждение второго эшелона поправок к закону.
У Держспоживстандарта - положение двойственное:
с одной стороны - закон есть закон и для них руководство к действию.
с другой стороны - они все прекрасно понимают - и про мову, и про сроки
введения в действие...
Представители всех перечисленных выше структур проявили понимание проблем
рекламистов и стремление к их взаимоприемлемому решению.
Так что есть повод не терять оптимизма.
Відповіді
2003.09.25 | Skeptic
That is pretty funny.
An appeal to help a foreign language newspaper comes in another foreign language. But the funniest thing is that instead of appealing for a change in the law, Sunden is appealing for an exception from the law to his newspaper. I wonder if he acquired such peculiar understanding of "equal protection" thru too-close-a-contact with Kuchma's gang, or is it Sunden's independent achievement.2003.09.25 | peter byrne
Re: That is pretty funny.
and the letter is in russian!of course it is in english and ukrainian too but hasn't been hung out on the net.
it's an interesting story, though, and a classic example of tomenko's incompetency, legal nihilism and the reigning chaos.
you seem to know something about jed hanging around kuchma's buddies.
why don't you say what?
Watermellons in a Cage (Part II)
By Peter Byrne, Kyiv Post Staff Writer
Sep 25, 2003 00:08
Oleksy Boyko
KP Publications President Jed Sunden, left, speaks to the newspaper’s editors and journalists in the Kyiv Post newsroom on Sept. 24 about problems that amendments to the advertising law may cause for the publication.
A hastily enacted amendment to the nation’s law regulating advertising has caused an uproar among advertising agencies, publishers and trademark-protection activists, who are worried about the law’s sweeping effects and looking into what can be done to minimize the damage.
As parliament prepared for adjournment last July 11, it passed a legislative package of changes to the country’s law on advertising. One of the innocuous-looking 255 amendments proposed required that advertising be done only in Ukrainian.
Parliament gave the bill unanimous support, and President Leonid Kuchma signed it on Sept. 15. It will become law after it is published in the government’s official newspaper.
The provision requiring advertising in Ukrainian is contained in article 6 of the bill. The amendment, introduced by lawmaker Stepan Havrysh, has brought chaos to the nation’s foreign-language newspapers, trademark owners and the advertising industry.
The law will have a disastrous impact on advertising revenues for newspapers like the Kyiv Post, which publishes in English. Because many of the newspaper’s readers would be unable to read ads in Ukrainian, advertisers would likely abandon the publication. Publications printed in other languages, including Russian, would likely be impacted to a lesser degree.
The State Committee for Technical Regulation and Consumer Rights is responsible for enforcing compliance with the new law, and for levying fines against violators. Under the law, publications that print advertising in other than Ukrainian could be subject to penalties equal to four times the cost of the ad.
STRC Deputy Head Oleh Kobelkov told the Post on Sept. 24 that his office has been swamped with inquiries from Russian-language newspapers from predominately Russian-speaking eastern oblasts about what they should do to avoid being fined.
“We recognize, of course, that there is a problem,” said Kobelkov, who emphasized that his office has received no instructions on how to proceed.
Kobelkov added that his committee receives instructions from the government council on advertising issues chaired by Dmitro Tabachnyk, deputy prime minister in charge of humanitarian issues. Kuchma appointed him last November.
Havrysh’s Ukrainian-only amendment received scant attention from parliament’s committee on free speech and information, which first vetted the 255 proposed amendments to the advertising law.
Parliamentary sources indicated that the amendment’s effect on foreign language publications was an unforeseen consequence.
Committee chair Mykola Tomenko on Sept. 24 refused to say why he supported the change, referring the Post to committee staff.
“We are aware of the difficulties that this new provision could pose for the Kyiv Post and other foreign-language newspapers, and will do everything in our power to minimize the possible negative effects,” said the staffer, who asked to remain anonymous.
Stepan Havrysh told the Post through his assistant Oksana Kozak that his amendment was not intended to put the Kyiv Post or any other foreign-language media out of business. Havrysh said he would be willing to discuss the issue with the owners of foreign-language media after he returned to Kyiv on Sept. 25.
Our Ukraine deputy Yury Artemenko, one of the co-authors of the new law, told the Post on Sept. 23 that committee members had not seriously considered Havrysh’s amendment before it was adopted on July 11.
“Unfortunately, the deputies were in a rush to start their summer vacations,” said Artemenko, whose Zaporizhya-based Russian-language weekly MIG decided this week to begin running its advertisements in Ukrainian.
“This practice is idiotic, but we’re doing it anyway,” said Artemenko, who told the Post he and Tomenko would attend a Sept. 29 session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to debate a resolution on Ukraine’s honoring its commitments to the council.
Britain’s Minister for Europe Dennis McShane said in Kyiv last week that Ukraine’s media situation would be among the issues discussed during an upcoming EU-Ukraine summit in Yalta on Oct. 7.
Ukraine’s previous advertising law provided that media and advertisers should comply with the law on languages. Article 35 of that law reads that the “texts of official announcements, placards and advertisements are to appear in the Ukrainian language.”
Opinions are divided over whether that law applies only to official advertising placed by the government, or has a broader application.
Artemenko criticized fellow lawmakers, including his colleagues from Our Ukraine, for failing to realize how the amendment could affect the Kyiv Post and Russian-language media, specifically newspapers in eastern Ukraine that publish in Russian.
“Other deputies and I are now in the unenviable position of trying to figure out how to change the law,” added Artemenko, who said he regretted any unforeseen consequences caused by the flawed bill.
Oleksandr Turchynov, a leader of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, told the Post on Sept. 22 that he and members of his faction were contemplating more important matters during the 15-minute debate on the bill on July 11.
“We were focused on what specific products should not be advertised, rather than on the language used to promote them,” he said.
Turchynov campaigned successfully to introduce measures regulating the advertisement of tobacco products and tobacco trademarks on TV and radio. Under the new law, TV and radio advertisements for alcohol products and trademarks are prohibited between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.
Ukraine’s constitution guarantees the “free development, use and protection of Russian and other languages,” and the European Charter on Regional and Minority languages obliges Ukraine “to oppose practices designed to discourage the use of regional or minority languages in connection with economic or social activities.” Parliament ratified the charter in May.
Business groups and industry associations including the All-Ukraine Advertising Coalition, the Ukraine Trademark Association and the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine said that the Ukrainian-only provision of the new law appears to be unconstitutional, and that it is contrary to existing Ukrainian law and international treaties.
The Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights, a public-private partnership advancing intellectual property rights protection in the former Soviet Union, said that the new law violates Ukrainian and international intellectual property laws.
“There are more than 75,000 registered trademarks in Ukraine. To require that they be translated into Ukrainian is absurd,” said CIPR’s Kyiv representative, Myron Wasylyk, on Sept. 22.
The nation’s trademark law provides that a registered trademark in Ukraine can be one or several words that cannot be recreated, imitated or translated. Registered trademarks are also protected under Ukraine’s Civil Code and the Paris Convention on the Protection of Industrial Property, to which Ukraine is a signatory.
Wasylyk warned that the mandatory duplication of trademarks and logotypes into Ukrainian would lead to state-sanctioned piracy by allowing recreations, imitations and translation of existing marks, which in turn will only increase piracy and counterfeiting.
Mykola Slezanok, who heads the STRC office in Kyiv, told the Post on Sept. 22 that he has not received or issued any guidance on how to punish those who break the new law.
“We do as we are told, but no one has told us to do anything yet,” Slezanok said.
Advertising agencies that work with the nation’s top television broadcasters, meanwhile, said that they are already prepared to introduce Ukrainian-only commercials, and expressed a willingness to comply with the new law.
Valery Mashtakov, executive director of the Prioritet advertising agency, told the Post on Sept. 23 that the duplication of trademarks and logotypes into the Ukrainian language posed a potential legal problem for his agency, which places commercials on 1+1 and the multi-regional television station Novy Kanal.
“We’re not exactly sure what to do about this yet,” Mashtakov said. “Our lawyers are still trying to figure it out.”
2003.09.26 | Skeptic
You are even more funny, of course
peter byrne пише:> it's an interesting story, though, and a classic example of tomenko's incompetency, legal nihilism and the reigning chaos.
Well, Sunden successfully matched Tomenko's with his own legal nihilism, calling for exceptions from the law to his newspaper rather than changes in the law.
> you seem to know something about jed hanging around kuchma's buddies.
It is fundamentally their culture to assume that exceptions from the law should be made for them. Of course, it might as well be plain American arrogance, hence the question.
> Oleksy Boyko
...
> “There are more than 75,000 registered trademarks in Ukraine. To require that they be translated into Ukrainian is absurd,” said CIPR’s Kyiv representative, Myron Wasylyk, on Sept. 22.
It is not quite clear though, whether this absurdity is contained in the law or just in Oleksy Boyko's head. I strongly suspect the latter.
2003.09.26 | peter byrne
turtle in a fishtank, really
no, you are. really.the law - and response to it - illustrate the the level of cynicism of Ukrainian politicians, citizens and media.
had lawmakers been held accountable by media reporting objective facts - the truth - about the affair, there could have be a different outcome.
or has tolerance given way to cynicism, or vice versa?
tolerance in the true sense is a dynamic concept.
quite contrary to the apathy that spawns cynicism, the sine qua non of tolerance is positive action arising from a sense of responsibility for others.
it is a reaction of people who endure injustice - not laziness to do something about it.
you are obiously in that category.
and answer the question, dipshit: what do you know about sunden's cozy relationship with government officials?
2003.09.26 | Skeptic
На безриб'ї і byrne риба
peter byrne пише:> had lawmakers been held accountable by media reporting objective facts - the truth - about the affair, there could have be a different outcome.
Oh, thank you so much for telling me this, for how would I know?
> he sine qua non of tolerance is positive action arising from a sense of responsibility for others.
Really? So it is this sense of responsibility for others that makes Sunden ask for exceptions for himself? Or did I incorrectly understand what was written in that letter? Sorry, but it was not in my language.
> and answer the question, dipshit: what do you know about sunden's cozy relationship with government officials?
No need to introduce yourself again. Looks like low cultural level is one of the prerequisites to work at Kyiv Post. And poor understanding of English must be another, given that you are so stubbornly trying to attribute to me something I never wrote.
2003.09.26 | peter byrne
Re: На безриб'ї і byrne риба
an exception to what?to a law that no one is enforcing ... yet?
where do you live, new jersey?
go back to boy scout camp.
2003.09.26 | Skeptic
I live in Kyiv, for the most part.
peter byrne пише:> an exception to what?
Well, I just wanted to quote the letter, but it has already been replaced with a "retouched" English version. Thank you for reacting to my criticism.
2003.09.26 | peter byrne
start going to court hearings in the district where you live
i've read about five of them. which one do you have in mind?i'm a lot more interested in what they (deputies/cabinet/presidential adminstration) are going to do about the law than letters from irate publishers.
the media reaction - and the reaction of sceptics reading them - was, of course predictable. but what else can you expect from a society that doesn't care very much if a journalist is kidnapped, beheaded and buried because of their boneheaded president?
2003.09.26 | Skeptic
When I need advice, I pay for it. I don't remember paying you.
peter byrne пише:> the media reaction - and the reaction of sceptics reading them - was, of course predictable.
And what was media reaction? I only saw that of Kyiv Post, and only because you posted that link here. Unfortunately there is no printed media in Ukraine worth reading.
>but what else can you expect from a society that doesn't care very much if a journalist is kidnapped, beheaded and buried because of their boneheaded president?
Exactly! Now what?
2003.09.26 | peter byrne
skeptikam
those wondering about the burdens of society in the years to come - far from demonstrating a sense of spiritual tension - today show signs of self-absorption, indifference to justice, and skepticism.2003.09.26 | peter byrne
Re: You are even more funny, of course
chat with moroz about article 6 on sept. 26 (just ended)oleksandr oleksandrovych!
vy i chleny vashej fraktsii progolosovali ZA popravku havrysha (stat'ya 6-aya) k zakonu o reklame 11 july 2003.
pochemu? neuzheli schitaete vy i chleny vashej fraktsii chto vse reklamy dolzhny byt' na ukrainskoj move, nesmotrya na to chto ehto oznachit finansovy krakh anglo-yazychnoj gazety kyiv post i desyatok drugikh gazet?
to chto kyiv post yavlyaetsya, tak skazat', "cherepashkoj v akvariume" - ehto ponyatno. chto vy lichno i chleny vashej fraktsii budut delat' dlya togo chtob uspakaivat' reklamodatelej, kotorye ochen' ne khotyat sporit' s temi kotorye otvechayut za ispolenie novogo zakona?
spasibo za vash kontretnye otvety,
> peter byrne
15:18:10 [Олександр_Мороз] belarusian/ Коли вдень голосується 100 законів, можна не запам"ятати.
15:18:55 [belarusian] Олександр_Мороз> Стаття 6. Мова реклами Реклама
розповсюджується на територiї України виключно українською мовою.
15:20:22 [belarusian] Олександр_Мороз> Зареєстрованi у встановленому порядку знаки для товарiв i послуг, логотипи можуть наводитися мовою оригiналу. В такому випадку iншомовний знак для товарiв i послуг, логотип повинен дублюватися українською мовою
15:23:06 [Олександр_Мороз] belarusian> Якщо в Україні буде використовуватися реклама і російською мовою - біди не буде. Одначе у нс достатньо реклами, яка більшості невідома. Дійшло до того, що чужу рекламу прокручують на телебаченні з нікудишнім дублюванням тексту. Днями я повернувся із Стокгольма і не бачив там жодної реклами на "нешведській" мові, окрім хіба що фірмових знаків.
15:27:26 [belarusian] Олександр_Мороз> Держспоживстандарта, Ассоциации
предприятий наружной рекламы и, конечно,инициаторы - Всеукраинская рекламная коалиция. Коротко итоги встречи (только основные моменты и тезисно):- по статье 6. мова рекламы - уже внесен законопроект от Артеменко - там по сути оставлена редакция статьи от закона 1996г. Все присутствовавшие на собрании стороны были единодушны. Принятая статья от Гавриша - "незаконна", неработоспособна...Никого дополнительно в этом убеждать не пришлось.
15:30:33 [Олександр_Мороз] belarusian> Ну далася вам ця реклама... Якщо є пропозиція хороша, значить вона пройде. Переговоріть з Артеменком, я з ним добре знайомий. Будемо відстоювати вашу позицію.
15:32:28 [belarusian] Олександр_Мороз> davajte sdelaem zakon CHTOB
ELEKTRONNAYA POCHTA TOZHE PO UKRAINKI
15:33:27 [Bazilla] belarusian> І це говорить людина, яка пише російською на латинці
15:34:30 [belarusian] Олександр_Мороз> khvatit s menya. ne nado podderzhat' durnye propozitsii. vse. osobenno esli oni ot gavrisha. plokhoj pretsendent.
2003.09.25 | Игорь
То ли птицы летят перелетные, то ли КРЫСЫ бегут с корабля.
.2003.09.25 | peter byrne
Re: То ли птицы летят перелетные, то ли КРЫСЫ бегут с корабля.
Will vote be fair?By Peter Byrne
Kyiv Post Staff Writer
Sep 2, 1999 01:00
A familiar lesson is re-emerging as Westerners plumb the depths of economic and political change in someone else's - in this case Ukraine's - backyard: Billions in aid dollars, born of good intentions, can't buy democracy. The Oct. 31 presidential election is shaping up as the latest chapter of an old story. This, essentially, is the deal offered to Ukraine by the would-be good guys - the United States and the European Union: They will continue to supply financial assistance to a nearly bankrupt government in exchange for promises to hold free and fair elections. Of course, the visiting Westerners add, it would be great if the chief aid beneficiary - President Leonid Kuchma - would also persevere with the difficult transition to free markets and full-fledged democracy. But, as the Bank of New York money-laundering scandal with Russian and Ukrainian ties shows, life in the former Soviet Union still has its own set of rules. And those are tawdrier when it comes to making money, and far less tolerant when it comes to respect for freedom of inquiry, speech and expression. If Kuchma wins re-election in the upcoming Oct. 31 election, it will be trumpeted on state-controlled television as a triumph over the leftists who would take Ukraine down the wrong path. But the West will make its own evaluation - and embassy row is hoping that it won't be the aviation equivalent of searching for the black-box flight recorder after a plane crash. Already, movement on the economic front appears to have stopped completely - as opposed to moving ahead almost imperceptibly - until after the vote. This is the kind of stagnation that the U.S. government says it does not want. But it is the kind that U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott predicted was likely. At an April 8, 1998, forum on Ukraine-NATO relations, Talbott said Ukrainian politicians may be 'tempted to defer difficult decisions so that they can say and do things that they believe will earn favor with the voters.' 'To put it bluntly, that [sic] is time that Ukraine simply does not have to waste,' Talbott said. 'And we can only hope that elected officials will see that wasting time is bad politics, since a year and a half of finger-pointing, demagoguery, empty promises and inaction on economic reform will only make things worse in October of 1999, not better.' These sentiments aren't getting much attention as the 15 candidates polish their rhetorical apples on the campaign trail. Kuchma's are among the shiniest. In Simferopol on Aug. 30, Kuchma delivered a warning of the grave fate that will await his beloved motherland if he doesn't win re-election. Ukraine 'will find itself in political and economic isolation' if a left-wing candidate wins, Interfax news service quoted the president as saying. 'The world will never agree to restructure or write off our debts, and we will become bankrupt and a default will be declared.' That's the Kuchma strategy that is likely to last throughout the campaign: Hey, folks, vote for me or life will get worse. Allegations of strong-arm tactics by Kuchma backers are just that, his people say. Factory bosses threatened with loss of government contracts? Show the proof, they say. Already, 'independent' political pundits who sound sympathetic to Kuchma are defining the difference between a free and fair election and one that is merely 'legitimate.' Mikhail Pohrebinsky, a well-known political analyst, recently had this to say in an Aug. 31 interview published by the weekly Invest Gazeta. 'There is legality (lawfulness) and there is legitimacy,' said Pohrebinsky, whom Den newspaper considers a Kuchma ally. 'As for legalities, citizens can do nothing 'legally' in a society lacking rule-of-law and a developed civil consciousness ... because any act may be deemed 'unlawful.' It is another matter, though, to acknowledge that these results do not comply with the letter of the law,' Pohrebinsky was quoted as saying. Then he raised the issue of the recent Kyiv mayoral election, in which the incumbent Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko was found by a lower court to have violated the tenets of a fair election by denying his rivals advertising space, among other violations. The Supreme Court overturned the lower court decision and legitimized the election results. Of that controversial contest, Pohrebinsky told the newspaper that the lower court decision may have been 'based on law,' but not necessarily 'just.' If a few rules get broken in the process, Pohrebinsky seemed to say, then so what? 'It will be clear to most people that massive violations took place, but if the results are convincing, legal intricacies and the nature of the infractions will not prevent society from viewing them as 'fair,' and thus legitimate,' the newspaper quoted him as saying. The West, meanwhile, appears to have settled on refereeing from the sidelines, after the fact, after laying out the ground rules in advance. 'A free and fair election will be an important step in the transition to democracy and demonstrate that it is taking firm root in Ukraine,' the United States and the European Union told Ukraine as recently as June 21. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer joined the chorus later in the summer, saying on July 16: 'Voter participation is not the only hallmark of a genuine electoral democracy. The true foundation is the rule-of-law, the principle that in an election all candidates have access to public media, election laws are obeyed, registration is done in a fair and transparent manner, voters and candidates are free from intimidation and other restrictions ...' The West is monitoring the election in various ways. Among those watching is a delegation from the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe. A team of seasoned election specialists arrived in Kyiv on Sept. 1 to monitor Ukraine's media coverage, election laws, registration procedures and polling policies. Over the next months, they will meet with presidential hopefuls, correspondents, non-governmental organization leaders, election commission officials and ordinary citizens. Their findings won't influence or change the outcome of the elections, of course. They will, however, give the Western world better insight into whether Ukraine's next president won a fair fight - or merely just won.
2003.09.25 | peter byrne
шила в мешке не утаишь
2003.09.26 | peter byrne
Закон о Рекламе - последние новости!
Закон о Рекламе - последние новости!Сегодня, 26.09.03 состоялась очередная встреча в Комитете по свободе слова и
информации ВР.
Присутствовали: представители Комитета, Кабмина (Координационного совета по
рекламе),
Держспоживстандарта, Ассоциации предприятий наружной рекламы и, конечно,
инициаторы - Всеукраинская рекламная коалиция.
Коротко итоги встречи (только основные моменты и тезисно):
по статье 6. мова рекламы - уже внесен законопроект от депутата
Артеменко - там по сути оставлена редакция статьи от закона 1996 г.
Все присутствовавшие на собрании стороны были единодушны. Принятая статья от
Гавриша - "незаконна", неработоспособна...
Никого дополнительно в этом убеждать не пришлось.
(кстати, отправлено очередное письмо в Комитет по этому поводу. на этот раз
подписанное совместно коалицией и Американской Торговой Палатой в Украине).
что беспокоит Комитет и контролеров сегодня особенно?
Не выполняются другие нормы, заложенные в законе.
Да, статья про мову спорна.
Да, не успели сделать новые предупредительные надписи.
Но в законе приведены правила игры и по целому ряду других моментов:
прерывание фильмов, спонсорство новостей, внутренняя реклама табака (не
путать с информацией в местах продажи!).
Причем, эти правила установлены законом не только для рекламистов, но и для
горадминистраций или уважаемого ГАИ, права которого, например,
ограничиваются безопасностью движения.
Ближайшие планы:
у Кабмина:
собрать во вторник, 30.09.2003, специальное заседание Координационного
Совета по рекламе. Там будут присутствовать представители коалиции. Ситуация
под контролем. (хочется верить).
у Комитета по свободе слова:
на ближайшем заседании, а именно в среду, 1.10.2003, намечается голосование в поддержку поправки Артеменко про мову (как первоочередная),
составление и принятие обращения за подписью Головы Комитета, в котором
найдет отражение позиция Комитета по законоприменению (речь пойдет о главных
статьях закона, а также о возможных к неоднозначной трактовке моментах). Это
письмо-звернення обязательно будет получено и опубликовано коалицией.
обсуждение второго эшелона поправок к закону.
У Держспоживстандарта - положение двойственное:
с одной стороны - закон есть закон и для них руководство к действию.
с другой стороны - они все прекрасно понимают - и про мову, и про сроки
введения в действие...
Представители всех перечисленных выше структур проявили понимание проблем
рекламистов и стремление к их взаимоприемлемому решению.
Так что есть повод не терять оптимизма.
Информация всеукраинской рекламной коалиции