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Legal Languages in Contact: EU Legislative Drafting and Its Consequences for Judicial Interpretation

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Language and Law

Abstract

“United in diversity”—the motto of the European Union (EU)—points out the paradoxes both drafters and interpreters of EU law cope with. On the one hand, diversity (including diversity of cultures and languages) is respected and protected by EU law. On the other hand, EU law is required to be applied uniformly in all Member States, thus creating the union of languages and cultures. The chapter investigates how this paradoxical combination of diversity and unity is obtained by means of language use during legislative drafting and judicial interpretation processes. In particular, the analysis focuses on whether linguistic equality can be attained when EU law is drafted and interpreted. If all EU official languages are in use throughout the legislative process, and none of them has a dominant position, especially, none of them influences radically the wording of other language versions, then all language versions of an EU legal act should equally shape the meaning of this act. Consequently, the unity reflected in the uniform interpretation of EU law (the same meaning of all language versions of an EU legal act in all Member States) can be achieved through linguistic diversity manifested in the multilingual nature of EU legislation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/symbols/motto_en.

  2. 2.

    Guideline 5 of Joint Practical Guide, European Union (2015).

  3. 3.

    McAuliffe (2012), p. 203; Schilling (2010), p. 1475.

  4. 4.

    See Chapter 8 (Articles 36–42) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice (OJ L 265, 29.9.2012, p. 1).

  5. 5.

    Council Regulation (EEC) No 1 of 15 April 1958 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community (OJ 17, 6.10.1958, p. 385); referred to further as Regulation No 1/1958/EEC.

  6. 6.

    Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

  7. 7.

    Then Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (Rome Treaty), since 2009 the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

  8. 8.

    Council Regulation (EC) No 920/2005 of 13 June 2005 amending Regulation No 1 of 15 April 1958 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community and Regulation No 1 of 15 April 1958 determining the language to be used by the European Atomic Energy and introducing temporary derogation measures from those Regulations (OJ L 156, 18.6.2005, p. 3).

  9. 9.

    Council of the European Union (2016), p. 50.

  10. 10.

    Council Regulation (EU) No 1257/2010 of 20 December 2010 extending the temporary derogation measures from Regulation No 1 of 15 April 1958 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community and Regulation No 1 of 15 April 1958 determining the languages to be used by the European Atomic Energy Community introduced by Regulation (EC) No 920/2005 (OJ L 343, 29.12.2010, p. 5).

  11. 11.

    The derogation is provided until 31 December 2016 for Directives adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, until 31 December 2017 for Decisions adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, until 31 December 2019 for Directives adopted by the Council which are addressed to all Member States, Regulations adopted by the Council, Decisions adopted by the Council which do not specify to whom they are addressed, until 31 December 2020 for Regulations adopted by the Commission, Directives adopted by the Commission which are addressed to all Member States, Decisions adopted by the Commission which do not specify to whom they are addressed (see Annex to Council Regulation No 2015/2264/EU).

  12. 12.

    Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2015/2264 of 3 December 2015 extending and phasing out the temporary derogation measures from Regulation No 1 of 15 April 1958 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community and Regulation No 1 of 15 April 1958 determining the languages to be used by the European Atomic Energy Community introduced by Regulation (EC) No 920/2005 (OJ L 322, 8.12.2015, p. 1).

  13. 13.

    See the analysis of wording by Adrey (2009), p. 52.

  14. 14.

    Adrey (2009), pp. 52, 54.

  15. 15.

    Special Report No 9/2006 concerning translation expenditure incurred by the Commission, the Parliament and the Council together with the institutions’ replies (OJ C 284, 21.11.2006, p. 21).

  16. 16.

    European Commission (2013).

  17. 17.

    A vehicular language is a language used for communication between speakers of different languages; some authors underline that vehicular language is used in “certain established contexts and situations” Cherubim (2006) after Laakso et al. (2016), p. 13.

  18. 18.

    Ban (2013).

  19. 19.

    The Commission answer to Oral Question No 53 by Alfredo Antoniozzi (H-0159/05) on the subject of the use of Italian in the EU institutions; and to Written Questions E-3124/03 by Mrs Muscardini (UEN) and E-2111/04 by Mrs Reynaud.

  20. 20.

    Gazzola (2006), p. 398.

  21. 21.

    Procedure of the European Parliament, 8th parliamentary term, January 2017.

  22. 22.

    Some derogations from Rule 158 are provided in Rules 106.4a, 113.4 and 159 of the Rules of Procedure. The provisions of Rule 158.1 and 158.2 are repeated in Article 7 of the Decision of the European Parliament (EC, Euroatom) of 28 September 2005 adopting the Statute for Members of the European Parliament (OJ L 262, 7.10.2005, p. 1) which ensures linguistic diversity and opposes discrimination against any of the official languages.

  23. 23.

    The Code of Conduct on Multilingualism. Bureau Decision of 16 June 2014, available at www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/multilinguisme/coc2014_en.pdf (Accessed 20 Mar 2018).

  24. 24.

    Article 2 of the Code of Conduct on Multilingualism.

  25. 25.

    Article 2 of the Code of Conduct on Multilingualism.

  26. 26.

    Gazzola (2006), p. 398.

  27. 27.

    Fenet (2001), p. 247.

  28. 28.

    Doczekalska (2009), p. 351.

  29. 29.

    Truchot (2003), p. 102.

  30. 30.

    Such practice is applied in Canada where English and French versions of a bill are co-drafted at the same time. See for instance Labelle (2000) and Šarčević (2005), pp. 277–292.

  31. 31.

    Baaij (2013) after Dragone (2006), p. 100; Frame (2005), p. 22.

  32. 32.

    Phillipson (2003), pp. 21, 131.

  33. 33.

    Compare, for instance, equivalents of the term flexicurity in French (flexicurité) or Spanish (flexiseguridad) and in Lithuanian (darbo rinkos lankstumo ir užimtumo garantijų pusiausvyra) or Polish (model elastycznego rynku pracy i bezpieczeństwa socjalnego).

  34. 34.

    European Commission (2018).

  35. 35.

    See examples from Gardner (2016).

  36. 36.

    These texts encompass, for instance, amendments and modifications to the legislative proposal, modified and amended versions of the proposals, reports (e.g. reports of the Committee on Legal Affairs or other responsible committees), opinions and joint texts of the Council and the Parliament.

  37. 37.

    For instance, Commission replies to written questions by Members of the European Parliament are translated into their language and into one procedural language (Special Report No 9/2006 concerning translation expenditure incurred by the Commission, the Parliament and the Council together with the institutions’ replies (OJ C 284, 21.11.2006, p. 21).

  38. 38.

    Special Report (2006), p. 21. Other documents translated into all languages include: announcements of State aid and antitrust procedures published in the Official Journal, as well as the subsequent final decisions published in the Official Journal, anti-dumping decisions, calls for tenders or for manifestation of interest and press releases (Special Report (2006), p. 21).

  39. 39.

    Special Report (2006), p. 22.

  40. 40.

    Especially draft legislation at certain milestone stages, agendas for the Council, documents for adoption or discussion by the Council agenda, opinions of the legal service; Council minutes should have all language versions. See The Annex to the Guide for producing documents for the Council and its preparatory bodies.

  41. 41.

    For more details see Doczekalska (2008).

  42. 42.

    Derlén (2016), p. 55.

  43. 43.

    Case 29/69 Erich Stauder [1969] ECR 419, ECLI:EU:C:1969:57, para. 3.

  44. 44.

    Case 283/81 Srl CILFIT [1982] ECR 3415, ECLI:EU:C:1982:335, para. 18.

  45. 45.

    Baaij (2011), (2012), pp. 217–233.

  46. 46.

    Opinion of Advocate General Jacobs delivered on 10 July 1997 in Case C-338/95 Wiener S.I. GmbH v Hauptzollamt Emmerich [1997] ECR I-06495, ECLI:EU:C:1997:352, para. 65.

  47. 47.

    Opinion of Advocate General Stix-Hackl delivered on 12 April 2005 in Case C-495/03 Intermodal Transports BV v Staatssecretaris van Financiën [2005] ECRI-08151, ECLI:EU:C:2005:215, para. 99.

  48. 48.

    Derlén (2009), Doczekalska and Jaśkiewicz (2014), pp. 66–76.

  49. 49.

    The analysis included British, German, Danish courts Derlén (2009) and Polish administrative courts Doczekalska and Jaśkiewicz (2014), pp. 66–76.

  50. 50.

    For instance: para. 14 of the judgment in Case 30/77 Regina v Bouchereau [1977] ECR 1999, ECLI:EU:C:1977:172.

  51. 51.

    The presumptions are indicated by Strandvik (2016), p. 146.

  52. 52.

    Doczekalska (2009), pp. 365–370.

  53. 53.

    Case 29/69 Erich Stauder [1969] ECR 419, ECLI:EU:C:1969:57, para. 3.

  54. 54.

    Para. 3 of the judgment of the Court of 15 July 1964, Case 6/64 Flaminio Costa v E.N.E.L. [1964] ECR 1141, ECLI:EU:C:1964:66.

  55. 55.

    Šarčević (1997), pp. 149, 158.

  56. 56.

    Šarčević (1997), pp. 149, 158.

  57. 57.

    Para. 19 of the CILFIT Judgment, states that “Community law uses terminology which is peculiar to it” and that “legal concepts do not necessarily have the same meaning in Community law and in the law of the various Member States”.

  58. 58.

    See para. 155 of Joined Cases T-122/07 to T-124/07 Siemens Österreich [2011] ECR II-793, ECLI:EU:T:2011:70, where the General Court indicates that “the concept of ‘joint and several liability for the payment of fines’ is an autonomous concept which must be interpreted by reference to the objectives and system of competition law of which it forms part […]” and para. 67 of Case C-231/11P Siemens Österreich [2014] ECLI:EU:C:2014:256, where the CJEU stated that “the General Court erred in law by finding, at paragraph 155 of the judgment under appeal, first, that the concept of joint and several liability for the payment of fines is an autonomous concept”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Law School, Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland

    Agnieszka Doczekalska

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  1. Agnieszka Doczekalska
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Correspondence to Agnieszka Doczekalska .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Law, Economics and Culture, University of Insubria, Como, Italy

    Silvia Marino

  2. Institute of Applied Linguistics, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Łucja Biel

  3. Faculty of Law, Department of Foreign Languages, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

    Martina Bajčić

  4. Department of Foreign Languages, Translation & Interpretation, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece

    Vilelmini Sosoni

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Doczekalska, A. (2018). Legal Languages in Contact: EU Legislative Drafting and Its Consequences for Judicial Interpretation. In: Marino, S., Biel, Ł., Bajčić, M., Sosoni, V. (eds) Language and Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90905-9_10

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