Businesses received nearly UAH 11 million in fines for advertising violations

21,938 advertisements were inspected in Ukraine last year — 14% more than in 2024. After a sharp decline in the first year of the full-scale war, the number of inspections of advertising media has been growing year by year, although it still hasn’t reached the 2021 level. Despite fewer inspections overall, authorities are detecting about one-third more violations than before the full-scale invasion.

More than half of last year’s inspections concerned outdoor advertising — 11,037 cases. At the same time, the State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection stepped up checks of promotions on social media and websites, conducting 2,695 reviews.

On average, violations were found in every fifth case — 4,085 in total. It’s worth noting that a single advertising medium can contain multiple violations. Overall, the number of recorded issues increased 1.5 times over the year.

What advertising violations lead to fines for businesses? ​

About one quarter of all violations involved advertising that used a non-state (non-Ukrainian) language — 1,075 cases. More than half of these violations were committed by businesses in the Kharkiv region, which accounted for 672 fines. Other frequent violations included: alcohol advertising — 320 cases, medicinal products advertising — 276 cases, cigarette advertising — 195 cases.

The Kharkiv region ranked first for the number of violations: 1,014 violations were found in 1,248 advertisements reviewed — the highest figure in the country. For comparison, Kyiv had the largest number of inspections (3,256), but only 514 violations were identified, placing it second. Chernihiv region completes the top three: 304 violations were recorded following 2,646 inspections.

Authorities issued fines totaling nearly UAH 10.68 million, covering 4,227 penalties. On average, a business pays UAH 2,526 for violating advertising regulations. The most expensive violations were recorded in the Zaporizhzhia region, where the average fine reached UAH 4,500. The lowest average fines were in the Sumy region — UAH 1,050.

Businesses voluntarily paid 61% of fines, amounting to UAH 6.65 million. Another 17% were recovered through compulsory enforcement. Only 3% of entrepreneurs managed to successfully challenge the decisions of the authority in court — totaling UAH 455,000 in overturned fines.