U.S. English Foundation Research

 

LITHUANIA

Legislation

LAW ON THE “TERM BANK”

No. IX-1950

23 December 2003

Vilnius

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Purpose of the Law

This Law concerns:

1)the creation, management, use and funding of the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania;

2)the duties, rights and responsibilities of legal and natural persons who manage the “Term Bank” of the Republic of Lithuania, submit data thereto and use such data.

Article 2. Definitions

  1. “Approved term” means any term approved by the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, used or presented for use in the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania.
  2. “Expert” means a person included in the list of experts approved by the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language having the competence of a terminologist to evaluate the quality of terms and term entries in a term bank.
  3. “Expertise” means the examination of the quality of terms and term entries in a term bank by virtue of possessing the competence of a terminologist. The results of an expertise shall be recorded in the act of expertise.
  4. “Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania” (hereinafter referred to as the “Term Bank”) means a state-run information system comprising the aggregate of entries of Lithuanian language terms, approved, acceptable or unacceptable, which are processed and presented on the Internet in accordance with the established procedure.
  5. “Methodology relating to the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania” means the rules for the creation, management and use of the Term Bank approved by the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language.
  6. “Unacceptable term” means a word or a combination of words that does not correspond to the basic principles of terminology and correct usage requirements of the Lithuanian language and must be replaced by a correct (approved or acceptable) term.
  7. “Acceptable term” means a word or a combination of words that corresponds to the basic principles of terminology and correct usage requirements of the Lithuanian language.
  8. “Term” means a word or a fixed combination of words designating a particular concept or object in the domains of science, technology and arts or in any other domain of public life.
  9. “Terminology” means the aggregate of terms used in a specific subject field or in all subject fields.
  10. “Competence of a terminologist? means knowledge of the domains of science, technology, arts or any other domain of public life obtained by virtue of education and special training or professional activity and necessary for the performance of expertise.
  11. “Term entry” means the main unit of the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania containing the term, its definition, subject field label and other relevant data specified in the methodology relating to the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania.1
  12. “Set of term entries” means the aggregate of term entries concerning a particular subject field.

Article 3. Structure of the Term Bank

  1. The Term Bank shall contain Lithuanian language term entries classified into subject fields defined in the methodology related to the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania.
  2. The terms entered into the Term Bank shall be approved, acceptable and/or unacceptable.

Article 4. Management of the Term Bank

  1. The Term Bank shall be created by term bank managers – the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language (hereinafter referred to as the ?Language Commission?) and the Chancellery of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ? who shall also ensure its operation, continued maintenance and updating.
  2. The Chancellery of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania shall ensure the provision or development as well as the operation, maintenance and upgrading of the hardware and software necessary to operate the Term Bank.
  3. Data shall be entered into the Term Bank only using the methodology relating to the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania.
  4. Only those persons who are indicated in the methodology relating to the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania may enter terms (approved, acceptable or unacceptable) into the Term Bank as well as edit and delete such terms.

Article 5. Funding of the Term Bank

The Term Bank shall be funded from the state budget of the Republic of Lithuania.

Article 6. Public Accessibility

The Term Bank shall be easily accessible to Internet users.

Article 7. The Term Bank and Copyright

The application of copyright in respect of the Term Bank shall be regulated by the Law on Copyright and Related Rights of the Republic of Lithuania.

CHAPTER TWO

PRESENTATION, APPROVAL AND PUBLICATION OF TERM ENTRIES

Article 8. Presentation of Term Entries

  1. Term entries shall be presented to the Language Commission by authorized state institutions in accordance with the procedure established in paragraphs 1-3 of Article 9.
  2. Term entries may also be presented to the Language Commission by other legal and natural persons in accordance with paragraphs 4-5 of Article 9.
  3. Terminology commissions shall be set up within the state institutions proposed by the Language Commission.
  4. A terminology commission shall be set up by a decision of the head of the relevant institution from in-house specialists and a staff or invited linguist (linguists). Where a specialized subject field is supervised by several institutions, interdepartmental terminology commissions may be set up by a joint decision of the heads of such institutions.
  5. State institutions (or establishments subordinate thereto) shall set the time limit for preparing an inventory of the terms used in the subject fields supervised by the said institutions. Based on such inventories, term bases shall be set up using a subject field classification system established in the methodology relating to the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania.

Article 9. Presentation of Term Entries to the Language Commission

  1. At its meetings, the terminology commission shall discuss new entries of terms used in a specialized subject field (subject fields) which is supervised by the relevant institution; it shall also discuss proposals concerning the modification of terms or term entries within its sphere of competence which have been included in the Term Bank. Sets of term entries evaluated and arranged professionally and linguistically by the terminology, commission shall be presented to the Language Commission.
  2. The terminology commission shall have the right not to discuss the proposed terms (term entries), which are outside the sphere of competence of its institution.
  3. The terminology commission shall delegate its representative (representatives) to a meeting held by the Language Commission or its subcommission to discuss the terminology presented by the said terminology commission.
  4. Legal and natural persons who are not members of terminology commissions may present to the Language Commission their own sets of term entries arranged professionally and linguistically.
  5. Legal and natural persons or their representatives shall attend meetings held by the Language Commission or the Terminology Subcommission to discuss the terminology presented by such persons.

Article 10. Expertise of Terms

  1. The Language Commission shall organize a linguistic and, where appropriate, professional expertise of terms.
  2. Disputes relating to the expertise of terms shall be settled in accordance with the procedure set forth by the Language Commission.

Article 11. Approval and Entry of Terms

  1. Entries of terms used or proposed to be used in the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania shall be approved by a meeting of the Language Commission on the proposal of its Terminology Subcommission. Terminology experts and presenters shall be invited to the meeting. Information about Language Commission meetings where terms are discussed shall be publicly available.
  2. Terms (sets of term entries) shall be approved by a joint decision of the Language Commission. The term approved by the Language Commission shall be marked in the Term Bank with the word ?approved? or its abbreviation ?app.?
  3. Entries of terms used or proposed to be used in non-legal documents shall be signed on behalf of the Language Commission by its chairman acting on the basis of a decision by the Terminology Subcommission. Each such term shall be marked in the Term Bank with the word ?acceptable? or its abbreviation ?acc.?
  4. Unacceptable terms used in the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as elsewhere, shall be included in the Term Bank with a reference to approved or acceptable terms. Every unacceptable term shall be marked in the Term Bank with the word ?unacceptable? or its abbreviation ?unacc.?
  5. Terms used in publications approved by the Language Commission shall be included in the Term Bank in accordance with the procedure set forth by the Language Commission.

Article 12. Additional Publication of Terms

Approved terms shall be additionally published in a special annual publication of the Language Commission.

CHAPTER THREE

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 13. Liability for Violations relating to the Management of the Term Bank

Illegitimate management of the Term Bank shall lead to administrative liability in accordance with the procedure established in the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania.

I promulgate this Law passed by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.

Rolandas Paksas

President of the Republic

Source: State Commission of the Lithuanian Language website at http://www.vlkk.lt/legal-framework.htm

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