Legislation

(published in Gazzeta Ufficiale No. 297 on December 20, 1999)

Article 1

The official language in the Italian Republic is Italian.

The Italian Republic develops language and cultural heritage of the Italian language and also supports other cultures and languages, and encourages their usage by protecting it in this law.

Article 2

Following the Article 6 of the Italian Constitution and general principles adopted by European and International institutions, the Italian Republic protects the language and culture of the Albanian, Catalan, German, Greek, Slovenian and Croatian population as well as of the citizens who speak French, Franco-Provençal, Friuli, Romansh, Old Provençal and Sardinian.

Article 3

This Act and articles set therein are applied to districts and territories where it has been approved by the District Council based on a request of minimum 15 per cent of citizens enlisted in the electoral roll for these regions, or of one third of Council members.

Should none of the conditions set forth in the Article 3/1 be fulfilled and should there, in a territory, live a language minority, which is included in the list and which enforces its rights in accordance with the Article 2, the negotiations shall be commenced upon a request proclaimed in a special meeting organised by entitled entities and in accordance with appropriate Statutes and Regional Directives.

If language minorities specified in the Article 2 above are distributed in several regions or districts, they may establish co-ordinating bodies which may be recognised by participating local organisations.

Article 4

In municipalities specified in the Article 3, education in kindergartens shall be carried out in both Italian and minority languages. At basic schools and first-grade secondary schools, the minority language shall also be used for educational purposes.

In accordance with the Article 3/1 of this law and Article 21/8,9 of the Act no. 57 dated March 15, 1997, basic schools and first-grade secondary schools shall also, within the framework of a nation-wide general education plan and with regard to general teachers' objectives set forth in respective agreements, take into consideration parents' requirements regarding the education of a minority language and cultural heritage and shall work out time schedule, teachers' methodology and evaluation criteria in this respect.

In accordance with the Article 21/10 of the Act no. 59 dated March 15, 1997, the educational establishments, specified in the paragraph 2, may also, independently or jointly, provide education to adults. In self-government, research, and development, in accordance in the aforementioned Article 21/10, educational establishments may adopt initiatives for the education of cultural heritage and languages, which are set forth in the Articles 2 and 3 hereinbefore, and carry out activities to widen and enhance teachers' knowledge. Thus, educational establishments may conclude agreements in accordance with the Act no. 59, 1997, Article 21/12.

Initiatives, as specified in the paragraphs 2 and 3, shall be carried out by the same educational establishments employing their own available human resource and finance, in accordance with the Article 21/5 of the Act no. 59 dated March 15, 1997, and their available additional resources, having included into priorities, as set forth in the Article 21/5 of the Act no. 59, the ones specified in this Article. At the resource allocation, as set forth in the Article 21/5 of the Act no. 59 dated March 15, 1997, additional priorities defined in this Article shall be taken into consideration.

At the pupils' entry, parents inform the representatives of the educational establishment whether their children should be educated in a minority language.

Article 5

The Ministry of Education shall adopt decrees to determine general criteria to execute the Article 4 of this Act and may carry out nation-wide and/or local educational project to support languages and cultural heritage of recognised minorities, as set forth in the Articles 2 and 3 of this Act. Beginning from 1999, the Ministry of Education has an annual budget of 2 billion liras to put into practise the aforementioned projects.

The drafts of decrees mentioned in the paragraph 1 are submitted to the Parliament for its permanent commissions' approval. The commission shall express their opinion upon the decrees within 60 days after their receipt.

Article 6

Following the Articles 6 and 8 of the Act no. 341 dated November 19, 1990, regional universities, within the scope of their self-government and budget, accept every initiative, which includes education of languages and cultural heritage of minorities listed in the Article 2 of this Act, aiming at facilitation of scientific research or cultural and educational activities.

Article 7

In municipalities specified in the Article 3 of this Act, members of Councils and other bodies may use protected languages at the execution of their duties.

The paragraph 1 refers also to Council members in municipalities in mountain provinces and regions where a protected languages is used and where a minority makes up at least 15% of the population.

Should bodies, as specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 above, claim that they do not speak the minority language, an immediate translation into the Italian language shall be guaranteed.

Should legal documents with general public effectivity be published in two languages, the legally binding document is the one in the Italian language only.

Article 8

In municipalities, as specified in the Article 3 of this Act, the Local Council may, on its own expense, should there be no other funds for this purpose, publish official documents issued by the state, regions, local institutions and organisations in the protected minority language. This translation has no effect upon sole legal effectivity of the original documents in the Italian language.

Article 9

Except for the rights proclaimed in the Article 7, in municipalities, as specified in the Article 3 of this Act, a protected language may be used in oral communication in public administration with the exception of the military and police force.

To put into practise the paragraph 1 effectively, the public administration, also with help of other organisations and respective agreements, ensures availability of the staff capable of responding to citizens' requests in a protected language. For this purpose, from 1999 the National Fund for the Protection of Language Minorities at the Board of Ministers – Department of Regional Matters receives an annual budget of 9,800,000,000 liras. The budget is allocated on an annual basis in the decree of the Chair of the Board of Ministers, having consulted respective local administrations.

Court of conciliation may be held in a protected language. This article has no affect upon the Article 109 of the Criminal Law.

Article 10

1. In municipalities, as specified in the Article 3 of this Act, in addition to official toponyms, Local Councils may decide to accept toponymical names following the tradition and local usage.

Article 11

Citizens, who identify themselves with protected minorities, as set forth in the Articles 2 and 3, and who live in municipalities, as set forth in the Article 3 of this Act, and whose first names and surnames had been modified before this Act came into effectivity, have the right, based on appropriate documentation, to change to their original names. This change takes effect upon children without legal responsibility, and children with legal responsibility subject to their approval.

In cases specified in the paragraph 1, an application for change has to include an original name and surname and has to be submitted to the Mayor of an appropriate municipality. The Mayor shall ensure that the application is delivered to the Prefect adding a birth certificate. The Prefect shall issue a decree on the name and surname renewal, should all requirements be fulfilled. The Prefect may issue a single decree for all members of a single family. Should the application be refused, an appeal may be submitted within 30 days from the delivery to the Minister of Justice. The whole process is free of charge and has to be completed within 90 days after submitting an application for change.

Appropriate local institutions shall incorporate the change of the first name and surname in all respective registers, lists and records.

Article 12

Service agreements between the Ministry of Telecommunications and radio and television companies shall guarantee the protection of minority languages in specific areas.

Regions may also conclude additional agreements with radio and television companies about programmes broadcast in protected languages. Regions may also conclude similar additional agreements with local broadcasting companies.

The protection of language minorities within the mass communication system is carried out by the Office for Communication Guarantees, as set forth in the Act no 249 dated July 31, 1997, except for the action taken by the Parliament Committee and its overall role of a supervisory body over the radio and television services.

Article 13

Regions with an ordinary status shall adjust their own legal biding documents to the principles set forth in this Act, except for the laws which provide better conditions for minority language groups than this Act.

Article 14

Depending on their budgets, regions and provinces with language minorities, as specified in the Article 2, as well as municipalities in these regions and provinces, may adopt, based on objective criteria, measures about language usage for publishing houses, press, private radio and television broadcasting companies and organisations operating in their territory.

Article 15

With the exception of the stipulations in the Articles 5/1 and 9/2, all expenditures incurred by local organisations in executing this Act shall be charged to the state budget to maximum annual limit of 8,700,000,000 liras, beginning in 1999.

The annual budget, as specified in the paragraph 1 above, is allocated to local organisations based on a Decree issued by the Chair of the Board of Ministers.

To obtain finance from the annual budget, as specified in the paragraph 1, local organisations have to work out and submit a report including objectives and use of allocated funds.

Article 16

On their own expense, regions and provinces may establish additional institutions, or departments of existing institutions, focusing on the protection of minority languages and cultural heritage.

Article 17

All related laws and decrees shall be amended to comply with this Act within six months after this Act has become effective.

Article 18

In regions with a special status, if they have adopted more advantageous conditions as set forth in this Act, these may abide in effectivity. Protecting standards in regions with a special status and in autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano shall remain unchanged.

In regions with a special status, which have not adopted any protection measures, this Act shall be applied until execution decrees are adopted.

Article 19

The Italian Republic supports the cultural and language development of the minorities specified in the Article 2 abroad by various means. These shall be specified in additional agreements, following the principle of reciprocity with other countries, if the aforementioned minorities maintained and developed their social, cultural and original language identity.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall support all international agreements aiming at creating good conditions for Italian minorities abroad and at the development of the Italian language and culture abroad. The Italian Republic fully supports border and inter-regional co-operation within the scope of EU programmes.

The Government shall submit an annual status report to the Parliament on the execution of this Article.

Article 20

From 1999, following appropriate adjustments to the 1998-2000 budget allocation, within the interim planning in the state “Special Fund” of the Ministry of Treasury, the expected amount of 20,500,000,000 liras shall be accumulated as follows: 18,500,000,000 liras from the Board of the Ministers and 2,000,000,000 liras from the Ministry of Education.

The Minister of Treasury shall announce necessary variants of the state budget in special decrees.

Z. 482/99

Act on Protection of the Historical Language Minorities (Abbreviated Articles 2 - 20 in accordance with the Act no. C0169, which has been approved by the Assembly on 17 June 1998)

Act no. 482 of 15 December 1999, G.U. no. 297 of 20 December 1999.

Numbers of acts in approval process:

C. 169-BIS (includes C. 1867, C. 2086, C. 2973, C. 300, C. 396, C. 918) / S. 3366 (includes S. 1207, S. 2082, S. 2332, S. 3037, S. 3426, S. 424)

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