December 2004

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ROMANIA ADOPTS LAW ON THE PUBLIC USE OF THE ROMANIAN LANGUAGE

December 2004 – The Romanian Parliament adopted on 12 November the “Lege privind folosirea limbii române în locuri, relaţii şi instituţii publice” (Law on the use of the Romanian language in public places, relations and institutions”). This law regulates the oral and written use of Romanian (the official language) in the public sphere according to the academic rules currently in force, while it also establishes that any text written or said in a foreign language having “character of public interest” must be translated or adapted into the Romanian language (Art. 1). By texts of public interest it is understood any text “displayed, exposed, broadcasted or spoken in public places or by the mass media” (Art. 2). The law also provides that television broadcasts in foreign languages from Romanian TV networks or from foreign TV networks with a license in Romania must be subtitled in Romanian or, in cases of emergency, they shall be accompanied by a simultaneous translation (Art. 3). Moreover, namings, instructions and other explanations written in a foreign language and with relevance for Romanian consumers must also be translated into Romanian (Art. 4).

As regards the languages of national minorities, the law includes several references in Article 5. This article states that excluded from the law are: (c) “publications written completely or partially in foreign languages, including those of national minorities”, (e) “radio broadcasts in the languages of national minorities”, (f) “live television broadcasts in the languages of national minorities”, and (g) “religious, ethnographic and entertainment broadcasts in the languages of national minorities made by local and regional TV networks”.