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

[Stan Anonby]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harold Schiffman" <hfsclpp at gmail.com>
To: "lp" <lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 10:01 AM
Subject: Catalan delegate tells Welsh MPs language legislation needn’t hit 
businesses


> 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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