Estonia

[EE] Amended Law on Language Entered into Force

IRIS 2004-1:1/40

Max Schoenthal

Berlin

On 1 January 2004 a revised version of the Language Act of 21 February 1995 entered into force.

The Language Act governs the use of the Estonian language. It establishes, amongst other things, that Estonian is the official language in Estonia as well as a requirement concerning the use of the language. Estonian employees are to be provided with job-related information in Estonian; moreover officials and employees in public service are required to master Estonian while rules for language testing and the evaluation of language skills are being drafted.

In the broadcasting field, audio-visual productions with foreign language content must be provided with a suitable translation into Estonian, apart from limited exceptional cases to be defined subsequently.