In 2025, the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection conducted almost 22 thousand inspections of advertising media. This is 14% more than in 2024. More than half of the inspections concerned outdoor advertising. A total of 4,085 violations in advertising were detected last year, a 1.5-fold increase in violations over the year. Businesses in Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Chernihiv regions received the most comments. The total amount of fines amounted to UAH 10.68 million. More than a quarter of violations concern the use of non-state languages in advertising.
21,938 advertisements were checked last year in Ukraine, which is 14% more than in 2024. After a sharp decline in the first year of full-scale advertising, the number of inspections of advertising media has been growing year on year, although it has not yet reached the level of 2021. Although there are fewer inspections, violations are found by a third more than before the full-scale campaign.
More than half of the inspections last year concerned outdoor advertising – 11,037. At the same time, the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection has become more active in checking promotions on social media and websites: 2,695 investigations.
On average, violations were found in every fifth case – 4,085. However, it is worth noting that there may be several violations on one checked advertising medium. In general, the number of observations increased by one and a half times over the year.
What violations in advertising are businesses fined for?
About a quarter of all violations relate to advertising in non-state languages – 1,075 cases. In more than half of the cases, the violators were businesses from Kharkiv region: 672 fines. Other frequent violations include advertising of alcohol (320 cases), medicines (276), and cigarettes (195).
Businesses in Kharkiv region were the leaders in terms of the number of violations: 1014 violations were found in 1248 ads studied. This is the highest figure in the country. By comparison, Kyiv, where the most inspections were conducted (3,256), found only 514 violations, which is the second highest. Businesses from Chernihiv region round out the top three violators of advertising rules: 304 observations were made in 2,646 inspections.
In total, almost UAH 10.68 million worth of remarks were issued, which is 4,227 fines. On average, a business pays UAH 2,526 for non-compliance with advertising rules.
Violations of advertising rules were most expensive in Zaporizhzhia region, where the average fine reached UAH 4,500, and the lowest average amounts were recorded in Sumy region – UAH 1,050.
Businesses voluntarily paid 61% of fines in the amount of UAH 6.65 million. Another 17% were collected from violators by force. And only 3% of entrepreneurs were able to appeal the decision of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection in the amount of UAH 455 thousand in courts.
Fines and violations in advertising
