October 2004

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SCOTTISH GAELIC LANGUAGE BILL REVISED

October 2004 – The draft Scottish Gaelic bill, which was launched in October last year and has been subject to a three-months public consultation (see Mercator-Legislation’s news: November 2003), was finally introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 27 September and it is hoped to be enacted by the summer of 2005. The new version, entitled “Gaelic Language (Scotland) Bill”, has been revised on the basis of 3,400 responses submitted within the framework of the public consultation and it includes some ‘toughening up’ of the language protection measures. It is now expected that the Scottish Parliament’s Education Committee will consider the terms of the Bill. The main provisions of the future law, which apply to the whole of Scotland, are: the establishment of the Gaelic development body, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, on a statutory basis to oversee the development of the language; a requirement that the Bòrd exercise its functions with the aim of securing the status of the Gaelic language as an official language of Scotland; the introduction of a national Gaelic language plan to promote the use of the Gaelic language; the preparation of Gaelic language plans by public authorities, where appropriate, to encourage and facilitate the use of the language in public life; and a Gaelic education advisory role for Bòrd na Gàidhlig. The Bill provides similar recognition for Gaelic to that given to Welsh by the Welsh Language Act 1993 and it contributes to the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, especially in view of the recommendation issued by the Council of Europe in March this year, which contained several references to Scottish Gaelic. For the pros and cons of the Bill, see an article on the Bill published by Eurolang at www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4769, and for further information, see the Bill’s accompanying documents (the “Explanatory Notes” and the “Policy Memorandum”) included in the link to the Bill below.