Adapted version.

Law on Official Language Use Planning, 16th December, 1999.

Published in the Official Bulletin of Andorra, 16th December, 1999.

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The General Council, according to the doubtless public interest in preserving the use of the official language of Andorra, Catalan, has therefore promulgated the present Act aiming at the implementation of the article 2.1 of the Andorran Constitution, which states that "the official language of the state is Catalan".

Article 1- The official language of the State is Catalan.

Article 2- The objective of the law is the development of article 2.1 of the constitution in order to:

-Guarantee the official use of Catalan.

- Bring into general use the knowledge of Catalan.

-Declare the linguistic rights and establish its protection devices.

-Preserve and guarantee the general use of Catalan in every scope of public relevance, in education, mass media and in sports, cultural and social activities.

-Spread the social awareness of the fact that the Catalan language belongs to an indispensable cultural heritage for the maintenance of the country's identity.

-Safeguard the linguistic patrimony of Andorra.

Article 3- General linguistic rights.

Every individual has the right to be attended in the Catalan language in any written and oral relationship with any public administration or dependent administrative bodies; health services, social services, liberal professionals associations, private enterprise and professional organisations, etc.

Article 4-General Linguistic duties

- Andorran people have the duty to know the Catalan language.

- Everybody has the duty to use the Catalan language in all the cases contemplated in the present law and rest of the judicial system.

Article 5- Corporate persons.

Articles 3 and 4 are to be applied to all corporate persons concerning their activities in Andorra.

Article 6- Integration of non
-Catalan speakers

The government must undertake the promotion of all the means necessary to put into effect the rights and duties to keep an integrative relationship with individuals from other linguistic communities.

Article 7- Andorran linguistic variety.

The Catalan linguistic variety of Andorra must be an object of study and protection.

Title 1. On the official language

Article 8-Language in public institutions.

Catalan is the language used by all the public institutions of Andorra, according to the judicial system. Likewise, it is the language of public societies and of all those bodies depending upon them. Therefore, it is the language for: law, regulations and other official texts, as well as for documents and oral relationships in public administrations (without any prejudice to any language other than Catalan for foreign people), post stamps, etc.

The preceding provisions are not to be applied for foreign affairs, although only the Catalan document will be officially considered.

Article 9- Sponsoring enterprises .

All enterprises in collaboration with the public administration must use Catalan as far as the execution of the contract is concerned.

Article 10- Employees of public administration.

Proficiency tests of oral and written state language will be necessary for the entry and promotion into public administration.

Article 11-Administrative updating.

Public administrations provide their employees with a progressive recycling of the Catalan language. They have to favour the modernisation of the juridical and administrative language by means of publications, vocabularies, etc, in order to promote the correctness of the Catalan language and protect the Andorran variety.

Title II. On the public and social use.

Article 12-Catalan, language of public activities.

Catalan is the language of general use in every public and social activities, although the language used in congresses, symposiums and other public events can be determined by the corresponding organisation.

Article 13-Tourism.

In tourist offices and other services devoted to the promotion of tourism, one will use the language which makes communication easier. Booklets and publications issued or distributed by these offices may be written in any language, apart from Catalan.

Article 14- Toponymy

1-Official place names are in Catalan. The government will determine, in agreement with the affected local corporations, the official names of the territories, towns, suburbs or interurban roads. Street names will be determined by the corresponding local corporations.

2-Those names approved by the government with the affected local corporations will be legal in Andorran territory, whereas labelling, publicity, documentation and other uses of public administration, enterprises and legal persons must be accorded.

Article 15-Commercial names and social denominations, shop signs and publicity.

Commercial names, social denominations, shop signs or any other official, private, advertising, commercial or informative signs must all be written in Catalan. Posters, banns, commercial mailings, leaflets, advertisements (oral or written) issued or distributed in Andorra, must be in Catalan. Expressions in other languages can be used as long as they do not occupy any larger surface than the main text, in Catalan. Exceptions to this regulation correspond to what is established in the law on commercial names. Exceptions to section 3 correspond to any information addressed to a different linguistic group, or any documentation edited in a foreign country.

Advertisements and posters concerning cinema, theatre, shows or any other cultural manifestation must be written in Catalan, without any prejudice to titles or denominations in other languages.

Article 16- Labelling and other texts.

Labels, instructions or guarantees inserted in products elaborated, manufactured, canned or labelled in Andorra, and distributed throughout its territory, must all at least be written in a Catalan version, which cannot occupy a secondary space in the text. Exceptions are made with those products elaborated in Andorra under foreign license.

Article 17- Tourist establishments and restaurants.

Hotels, bars, restaurants, cafeterias, etc., must write their menus, price lists, services lists and any other printed matters or public information in Catalan. Other languages are accepted in a secondary place.

Article 18- Social equipments

Sanitary or social working staff members have the duty to know and express themselves in the official language, without any prejudice to the use of other languages when necessary. In youth social equipments, the language of communication is Catalan.

Article 19-Public transport

In all public transport services, printed matters, banns and internal or public communications, so written as oral, must be written in Catalan, without prejudice to the use of other languages in the individualized attention to customers.

Article 20- Working staff attending people-.

In order to exercise the provisions of Article 3, every enterprise established in Andorra must provide the means to grant the public attendance in Catalan.

Such an obligation is specially required from free professionals, autonomous workers, sanitary and social service staff, and in commercial and tourist establishments.

The government may authorize under regulation the exercise of several professions by means of a previous accrediting, without any prejudice to what the preceding provisions state.

Article 21- Communications through loudspeakers

Communication through loudspeakers in commercial establishments and public societies of the state are done in Catalan, although it can also be done in any other language in order to make communication easier. Such prescription must also be applied in sports centres, discotheques, skiing resorts, concerts, shows or any other public activity, except for those exclusively addressed to a different linguistic group other than Catalan for internal relations.

Article 22- Contracts and other documents

1-Any interested party is obliged to contract in Catalan and receive in this language the working contracts, regulated contracts, etc.

2-Financier and insurance agencies which edit printed matters addressed to their customers must also have copies of such documents in Catalan.

3-In case of non-Andorran entities, a translation must be delivered in order to observe the provisions of the present article.

4-Everybody must write and has the right to receive orders, contracts, bills, estimates, receipts, projects and other documents related to trading, in Catalan.

Title III- On education and sports.

Article 23- Catalan, language of education.

In the educational scope, everything with reference to language is regulated through its specific legislation and international agreements.

Article 24- Other centres.

Catalan is likewise the instrumental language for sports entities and kindergartens or nursery schools. One may have recourse to the individual auxiliary use of other languages in order to make communication and knowledge of Catalan easier. Title IV- On mass media and cultural business.

Article 25- Language in mass media.

1-The language used in the mass media of Andorra, so in their programming as in commercials, is the official one.

2-When someone participating in a program or emission does speak in a language other than Catalan, it is facultative to be translated or subtitled.

3-In spite of what is stated in section 1, mass media may have programs in other languages in the conditions stated in the corresponding regulation.

Article 26- Diffusion.

Public administrations must favour and promote the presence of the Andorran linguistic patrimony in their own mass media.

Article 27- Linguistic correctness.

Every enterprise or body working in the field of mass media must guarantee the correct use of the language.

Article 28- Promotion, shows and editions.

With the purpose to help and spread the official language, public administrations must foster:

a)The signature of agreements and collaboration covenants with enterprises and other companies of the sector in order to promote the production of books, press, printed matters, computer and audio-visual products and others, in Catalan.

b)the exhibition, sale or renting, in any audio-visual media, of films and documentaries in a Catalan version or subtitled in Catalan, which will be given priority with respect to those copies in other languages.

c)Theatre, shows and any other public cultural manifestation in the official language.

Title V- Fostering and other measures.

1-Without any prejudice to the rights and duties foreseen in the juridical regulation , public administrations must foster the spreading of Catalan over business, cultural, associative, sports activities or of any other type.

2-Amongst other measures, public administrations may establish funds, prizes, awards or agreements of collaboration, for initiatives favouring the language beyond the obligations stated in the present Act. They must also promote the use of Catalan in computer science and new technologies.

Article 30- Other means for the diffusion of the language.

Without any prejudice to the provisions of this Act, the government must provide the population with the appropriate means for the achievement of the purposes included in the present law.

The government will therefore have to undertake, through its corresponding ministries:

a)the regulation of the qualifications accrediting the knowledge of Catalan.

b)the promotion of the teaching of Catalan and the linguistic correctness in soliciting enterprises by means of courses, etc.

c)The elaboration of a sociolinguistic map of Andorra which will be periodically updated and by which the state language planning and policy may follow the linguistic reality of the country.

d)the public awareness on the importance of the knowledge and the use of the official language on the part of non-Catalan speakers.

Article 31-Cultural and sports activities and equipments.

Public administrations must promote the expression and the initiatives in Catalan in Andorra, as well as in foreign parts. They must also create equipments such as libraries, videotheques, cultural centres, museums, archives, academies or other means in order to promote cultural activities, specially in the field of literature, folk expressions and the cultural industry in general.

Article 32-Language planning.

1-The government undertakes the planning, organisation, co-ordination and supervision of the process of diffusion of the state official language.

2-The government entrusts the ministry in charge of the linguistic policy with the co-ordination of the other sectors' responsibilities in this field, so as with the follow-up of the activities carried out by other bodies or administrations.

Article 33- Bodies entrusted with the linguistic policy.

The government must have a body in charge of the linguistic policy and the coordination between the several ministries with competences on language, with the purpose to propose the corresponding plans for linguistic procedures, the examination of the related projects, and the coordination and supervision of such procedures.

In addition, the government will also create an administrative commission aimed to coordinate the government's linguistic policy with that of the "comuns". Such body does not have executive competences, but is only a consultive one.

Article 34- Linguistic authority.

In those matters related to linguistic norms, actualization and correctness, the authority is undertaken by the body referred to in article 33.1. This body will also be in charge of proposing and establishing the necessary means so that the Andorran linguistic variety can be represented in the decisions concerning the oral standard and the dictionaries.

Article 35- International cooperation.

In order to maintain and develop specific relationships aimed at favouring the official language, the government undertakes to promote the cooperation and interchange with universities and other foreign bodies in the fields of culture, education, professional training, etc. The government must also favour agreements, covenants, or any other type of action in the international scope in order to foster the presence of the official language.

Title VI- On infringements and sanctions.

Article 36- Sanctionable infringements.

Infringements are divided into:

-Minor infringements, which are those contravening the provisions of articles 14.2, 22 and 27;

-Serious infringements, which are those contravening the provisions of articles 8, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 25 and the recurrence of any minor infringement; and

-Very serious infringements, which correspond to the recurrence of serious infringements.

Article 37- Responsibility for infringements.

The responsibility for the infringements is regulated depending on the type of activity involved in the punishable action: commercial, industrial, liberal professions, public spheres, etc.

Article 38- Sanctions.

Sanctions are applied according to the type of infringement, i.e, minor, serious or very serious, so as the corresponding amount of money.

Article 39- Sanctioning procedures.

The competing bodies for the opening of disciplinary measures are the corresponding sectorial supervisors, as well as the official one entrusted with the linguistic policy, which has been referred to in article 33.1.

Article 40- Competent bodies.

The competing body for the opening of disciplinary measures is that referred to in article 33.1, for minor infringements, as well as the minister in charge of linguistic matters, for serious and very serious ones.

Article 41- Prescription deadlines.

The infringements referred to in the present act prescribe after a period of six months- for minor ones-, one year -for serious ones-, or two years -for very serious ones-.

Additional provision.

Implementation.

1-The government has the authority for the regulatory implementation of this law.

2-The government must order the necessary provisions to guarantee the use of Catalan in those activities in relation with its competences. Similarly, local corporations must undertake the same function according to the present law and the rest of juridical regulations.

Transitory provisions.

First

Public administrations will organize training courses specifically addressed to people working in public attendance and who does not have enough knowledge of spoken language.

Second

Enterprises must employ working staff with a proficient command of Catalan for public attendance within a two-years period after the enforcement of this law, according to its 20th article.

Third

As long as the toponimy referred to in article 14 of the present law is not approved, the official toponimy correspond to that included in the book "Geografia i diccionari geogràfic d'Andorra", edited by the General Council in 1977.

Fourth

Those enterprises having a considerable quantity of documents must translate them within a period of two years after the enforcement of the law.

Derogatory provision

All dispositions against this act become derogated.

Final provision

This act will be enforced in 15 days after its publication in the Official Bulletin of Andorra.

Casa de la Vall, 16th December, 1999.

Francesc Areny Casal

General Syndic

We, the co-Princes, sanction and promulgate this law and order its publication in the Official Bulletin of Andorra.

Jacques Chirac

President of the French Republic

Co-Prince of Andorra

Joan Marti Alanis

Bishop of Urgell

Co-Prince of Andorra