8500 hryvnias fine and confiscation of the entire fleet of electric scooters: tough sanctions are being prepared for rental operators

After years of lack of legal regulation and chaos with scooters on sidewalks, lawmakers have finally introduced a comprehensive control tool for light personal electric transport.

The problem of light personal electric transport — electric scooters, unicycles, and hoverboards — has long remained a legal gray area. While rental services aggressively took over city streets, legislation remained at the 1984 level. The editorial board of the "Judicial and Legal Newspaper" has repeatedly raised this problematic issue publicly, emphasizing that lack of responsibility turned the sharing model into a source of danger for the most vulnerable groups of the population — children, elderly people, and persons with limited mobility.

The bill No. 15444 registered on July 24, 2026, acknowledges that old regulatory methods are exhausted. The legislator is finally attempting to shift part of the responsibility from the "nameless renter" to the "business owner" who profits while ignoring the city’s safety infrastructure.

Driver responsibility: new articles of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses (CUAO)

The bill proposes separate responsibility for users of electric scooters and other micromobility devices, differentiating fines depending on the severity of the violation. The Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses is planned to be supplemented with a new article 127-2.

The following sanctions are provided:

Violation of traffic rules — a fine of 340 UAH (20 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens).

Driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or other intoxicants or under the influence of medications — a fine of 680 UAH (40 non-taxable minimum incomes).

Creating an emergency situation or hitting a pedestrian, if it did not cause moderate or severe bodily injuries — a fine of 850 UAH or community service from 30 to 40 hours.

This is an important step because the introduction of community service has a much greater preventive effect than a small fine, which is insignificant for many sharing users.

The end of the era of impunity for sharing services

One of the most important changes provided by the bill is article 127-3 of the CUAO, which for the first time introduces administrative responsibility for electric scooter rental operators. The need for such regulation has long been emphasized by the editorial board of the "Judicial and Legal Newspaper."

What will rental services be punished for?

• Failure to ensure software speed limitation: services are obliged to technically limit the speed of light personal electric transport (LPET) in designated zones (e.g., pedestrian zones, parks).
• Lack of geofencing technologies: companies must use technologies for automatic movement and parking restrictions in prohibited areas established by local authorities. This should solve the problem of sidewalk cluttering, which accounts for over 35% of citizens' complaints to the city halls of Kyiv, Lviv, and Odesa.
• Failure to block rides with two persons: services will be held responsible if they do not ensure the technical impossibility of transporting multiple persons on one vehicle.

Fines for officials and individual entrepreneurs for these violations will range from 3,400 to 5,100 UAH. In case of repeated violation within a year — a fine of 8,500 UAH with possible confiscation of the entire fleet of vehicles that caused the offense.

Geofencing as a legal category

The bill introduces the term "geofencing" into the legal field for the first time. This means that technological inability of the app or the scooter itself to limit speed near a playground will no longer be an excuse for the company. The business is obliged to invest in software that makes movement safe or pay fines.

The police will fine on the spot, courts — only in more complex cases

The bill proposes to simplify the procedure for bringing to responsibility. For most violations provided by the new articles 127-2 and 127-3 CUAO, police officers will be able to issue rulings immediately.

Meanwhile, courts will consider only cases of repeated violations by rental operators, where confiscation is possible, as well as cases involving minors aged 16 to 18.

Why reform is inevitable

The bill’s rationale is based on catastrophic accident dynamics. If in 2024 there were 503 accidents involving LPET, in 2025 this figure nearly doubled — to 845 accidents, in which 19 people died. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, 94 accidents were already recorded.

Judicial practice, which we analyzed earlier, confirms: in 79% of cases, the perpetrators of accidents are scooter drivers. However, holding them accountable was previously extremely difficult due to the absence of special norms in the CUAO. The new law eliminates this gap.

Adoption of the bill will eliminate the so-called "Wild West" on the streets, where scooters pose a threat to pedestrians on sidewalks and simultaneously become victims and perpetrators of accidents on roads. Public demand shows that this law was needed yesterday. We finally expect a transition from formal calls to effective sanctions that will force businesses and users to respect pedestrians' right to safety.

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