CABINET OF MINISTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA
| 22 August, 2000, Riga | Regulations No. 293 |
Statutes of the State Language Centre
Issued according to Part 2, Article 26
of the State Language Law
1. The State Language Centre (hereafter – Centre) is a state civil institution under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice, that, while implementing the state policy, control over compliance to normative acts and supervision in state language issues, ensures preservation, protection and development of the Latvian language.
2. Decisions taken and instructions given by the officials of the Centre within the framework of the authority stipulated by the statutes shall be mandatory for juridical and physical persons under the control and supervision of the Centre concerning language issues. Decisions and instructions taken by the officials of the Centre may be appealed according to the procedure stipulated by legislative acts.
3. The Centre is a juridical person. It has its own stamp with the small, supplemented coat of arms of the Republic of Latvia and the full title of the Centre.
4. The activities of the Centre are financed from the state budget funds, from donations and gifts of legal and physical persons. The Centre can open payment accounts with the State Treasury only.
5. In order to protect the rights and interests of a user of the state language, the Centre, performs the following functions:
5.1. submits proposals in order to improve normative acts regarding the state language;
5.2. regulates the use of the state language in the state and public life spheres in cases stipulated by normative acts;
5.3. promotes the development of the culture of Latvian language and the use of the language;
5.4.analyses the state language situation and the dynamics of social linguistic processes;
5.5. furthers arranging of the cultural environment of the language, paying special attention to the restoration and protection of place-names typical for this country;
5.6. provides consultations on Latvian language issues;
5.7. provides conclusions on spelling of personal names;
5.8. explains and popularises the basic principles of functioning of languages in Latvia;
5.9. organises the development and publication of methodological and information materials;
5.10. organises state language proficiency tests;
5.11. supervises the implementation of the State Language Law and other national normative acts concerning use of the state language, as well as undertakes certain activities to protect the interests of the population in cases when the State Language Law and other normative acts have been violated.
6. The Centre co-operates with town and regional municipalities, other agencies and institutions that ensure the functioning of the state language.
7. The officials of the Centre are the Director, Deputy Director, the heads of structural units.
8. Structural units of the Centre are departments that operate in conformity with the statutes approved by Director of the Centre.
9. In performing its functions, the Centre may involve experts, consultants and other specialists on the basis of an employment contract or enterprise contract.
10. The officials of the Centre, within the framework of their competence, are authorised to:
10.1. develop or to participate in the development of draft laws and regulations concerning language policy;
10.2. request and receive free of charge from the state and municipal institutions, organisations, as well as from other physical and juridical persons, information, necessary for ensuring implementation of the tasks of the Centre;
10.3. visit institutions, companies (enterprises) and organisations, state and municipal institutions, meet their officials, employees and self-employed persons;
10.4. propose that violations, concerning the language, are eliminated immediately;
10.5. requests to present the original of the state language proficiency certificate;
10.6. retain and inspect the state language proficiency certificates that do not correspond to the indicated level of the state language proficiency or to the requirements of the state language proficiency testing;
10.7. in the cases and order provided for by the legislative acts, submit the materials of the inspection to the respective law enforcement institution;
10.8. represent the interests of Latvia in international organisations, forums, meetings, as well as to act in national and international funds and projects, concerning the state language.
10.9. provide paid services in the procedure established by legislative acts.
11. The activities of the Centre are managed by the Centre’s Director. The director is a civil servant who acts in accordance with normative acts. Upon the approval of the candidature in the Cabinet of Ministers in accordance with the Law on Civil Servants the Centre’s Director is appointed to this post and dismissed from it, as well as his/her salary is determined by the Minister of Justice.
12. Director of the Centre:
12.1. represents the Centre without any special authorisation.
12.2. is responsible for fulfilment of the tasks of the Centre;
12.3. is responsible for drafting the budget of the Centre and spending of the
budgetary funds, allocated to the Centre, in accordance with the procedure stipulated by law;
12.4. confirms the list of the Centre’s personnel, determines the structure of the Centre and confirms the statutes of the structural units;
12.5 establishes the permanent commissions and other commissions of the Centre and confirms their statutes;
12.6. signs the decisions and statements of the commission;
12.7. employs and dismisses employees of the Centre, appoints to posts, dismisses from them and transfers to another post the officials of the Centre, as well as concludes employment or enterprise contracts with juridical and physical persons to ensure the activities of the Centre;
12.8. issues decrees binding to the employees and civil servants of the Centre;
12.9. promotes training and raising of qualification of civil servants and employees of the Centre;
12.10. considers inquiries and complaints regarding decisions taken and decrees passed by the officials of the Centre.
13. These Regulations take effect on 1 September, 2000
| Prime Minister | A. Berzins |
| Minister of Justice | I. Labucka |
Source: Unofficial translation
