1. Twinning Project No 00MAC01/02/006: Approximation of Legislation to the Internal Market Acquis An EU-funded project managed by the European Agency for Reconstruction LEGAL LANGUAGE Gordana Lalić Office for Legislation of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia Skopje, 19 April 2005

2. Significance of translation Published and valid legal acts of the European union are valid and are to be applied in all the Member States even if they are not translated and/or published in their respective languages. Obligation to respect and apply them even if they are not in Slovene.

3. In the Act (concerning the conditions) of Accession of the Republic of Slovenia to the European union Article 53 states that upon accession, the new Member States shall be considered as being addressees of directives and decisions within the meaning of Article 249 of the EC Treaty and of Article 161 of the Euratom Treaty, provided that those directives and decisions have been addressed to all the present Member States. In accordance with Article 54 the new Member States shall put into effect the measures necessary for them to comply, from the date of accession, with the provisions of directives and decisions within the meaning of Article 249 of the EC Treaty and of Article 161 of the Euratom Treaty.

4. Article 3.a of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia Pursuant to a treaty ratified by the National Assembly by a two-thirds majority vote of all deputies, Slovenia may transfer the exercise of part of its sovereign rights to international organisations which are based on respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy and the principles of the rule of law and may enter into a defensive alliance with states which are based on respect for these values. Legal acts and decisions adopted within international organisations to which Slovenia has transferred the exercise of part of its sovereign rights shall be applied in Slovenia in accordance with the legal regulation of these organisations.

5. Article 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia The official language in Slovenia is Slovene. In those municipalities where Italian or Hungarian national communities reside, Italian or Hungarian shall also be official languages.

6. Glossary Expert field dictionaries – expert revision gives meaning to the translation Legal dictionary

7. Terminology Evroterm (multilingual terminological base of the European Union terms) Multiterm Eurovoc Instructions for translation and language revision of the translations of European Union legal acts consideration of the glossaries and terminology = unity of use

8. Clearness and comprehensibility The aim and objective of each legal act is clearness and comprehensibility for all its addressees. Legislation should be coherent and clear, amiable to its addressees and hence ensure legal certainty. Main feature of legal acts is their obligatory nature, duty to act in accordance with them. This obligatory act could be imposed upon, expect from and demand from the addressees only if the rules are clear and comprehensible.

9. Basis for harmonization of the legislation as to the content is good knowledge of the legislation and its understanding. Congruent and meaningful legal and expert terminology lead to a CLEAR and COMPREHENSIVE legal act.

10. When translating notice should be taken of: – Language(s) specificities – Legal order – EU and national – Legal technique (technique of writing legal acts) – Mode of references

11. Legal language Literary language Words and terms of otherwise literary language but have special meaning when used in legal acts Expert terms from the field of law (and other fields) Economy of language use (normativity, not narrativity) Standard expressions, use of standards (definitions)

12. Use of tense Present tense  timelessness of meaning

13. Impersonal form (the objective of legal act is abstract and general regulation, the use of one or the other gender makes no difference as to the contents (person, individual, party, minister, …)) Use of passive voice Avoidance of foreign words  allowed when a suitable expression could not be found in the national language

14. Definition of obligations Natural and legal persons  use of present tense

15. Exceptions exception (regulates/creates something contrary to a general rule) includes the reference to a provision in a relation to which the exception is made: "Notwithstanding the provision of the previous Article ……."

16. "Feminization" of language (use of female and male gender for the classification of a person in the legal acts) There is a new approach where so-called "feminization" of legal language is used. In Slovenia it was introduced by the Parliament which in Article 115 of its Rules of Procedure states that in every legal act logical use of female and male gender should be applied in those first articles or chapters of the draft of law which determine fundamental subjects of the law followed by a provision that in the following text the use of male gender is to be used.

17. Composition of a secondary law legal act Title Recitals (not legally binding) Material provisions Final provisions

18. Individuals are allowed everything what is not explicitly prohibited. The reverse is true for the state: it may do only that what is explicitly allowed to it, provided for within the framework of its competences.

19. Thank you for your attention! gordana.lalic@gov.si