Catalan delegate tells Welsh MPs language legislatio n needn ’t hit businesses

[Harold Schiffman]

Catalan delegate tells Welsh MPs language legislation needn’t hit businesses
Apr 21 2009 by Tomos Livingstone, Western Mail

BUSINESSES have little to fear from new language legislation, a member
of the Catalan Government told Welsh MPs yesterday. Catalan is spoken
by around 68% of the territory’s 13 million residents, and language
legislation was strengthened by a new constitution introduced in 2006.
Although language laws cover all “bodies, companies and establishments
that are open to the public”, there has been little business backlash,
Westminster’s Welsh Affairs Select Committee heard.

Bernat Joan i Mari, secretary for language policy in the Catalan
Government, said: “Cost could be felt to be a problem [for business]
at the beginning, because when something is changing, there is
sometimes a fear about what’s going to happen. “At the beginning there
was this suspicion among companies in Catalonia, but in fact the
feeling has changed so much that nowadays no-one avoids Catalonia
because of the language.” He said multi-national firms including
Google, Microsoft and Easyjet had complied with the legislation with
little difficulty, and that “there are no enterprises which go out of
Catalonia” as a result of the rules.

Companies have to provide a service in Catalan if requested by
consumers. The state provides free training courses for businesses.
Less than 1% of disputes result in penalties, the MPs were told. The
committee is considering whether the Assembly Government should have
the powers to introduce its own updated version of the 1993 Welsh
Language Act, amid concerns from the CBI that new legislation could
lead to higher business costs if it is too strict.

The 1993 Act only covers the public sector, but any new version –
unlikely to be introduced before 2011 even if MPs agree to transfer
the powers – is likely to extend to some parts of the private sector.
One suggestion, that all bodies receiving more than £200,000 in public
funds each year should be covered by any new Act, has been widely
criticised as unclear, and MPs may ask that it is removed from the
Order devolving the powers to Cardiff Bay.

There are significant differences between the Welsh and Catalan cases
– as well as the higher number of Catalan speakers, the Government
there spends more than 159.9m euros a year on language policy.
Nevertheless the MPs hope lessons can be learnt. Bernat Joan i Mari
said: “Each place is each place; we try to do the best in our context
and our country, and I’m sure that you [MPs] are the best ones to know
what is to be done in Wales and the UK. “If the language is widely
spoken then the future is assured. But if it’s not widely spoken, and
coexists with another much more widely spoken language, then the
possibilities of survival as a living language are fewer.” The
committee of MPs plans to produce a report on the proposed transfer of
powers to the Assembly by the summer. A vote in both House of
Parliament is then expected in the autumn.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/04/21/catalan-delegate-tells-welsh-mps-language-legislation-needn-t-hit-businesses-91466-23430393/

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