Guidelines and recommendations on drafting correspondence in Basque addressed to the institutions and bodies of the EU
The Council conclusion of 13 June 2005 on the official use of additional languages within the Council and possibly other institutions and bodies of the European Union granted official recognition of Basque in the European Union, although the language did not receive the full official status enshrined in EEC Council: Regulation Nº. 1/1958 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community.
Among other aspects, this recognition permits the official use of Basque in the written correspondence (hereinafter referred to as “correspondence in Basque”) that citizens address to the institutions and bodies of the EU (hereinafter referred to as the “EU”) with whom the Spanish state has signed an administrative agreement, authorising, within these institutions, the official use of languages other than Spanish with official status in the Spanish State.
The Basque Government agency responsible for processing correspondence in Basque addressed to the EU (letters, requests, complaints, suggestions, etc.) and, where appropriate, the corresponding replies from the EU, is:
Dirección de Asuntos Europeos (DAE)
Gobierno Vasco
C/ Navarra, 2. 01007 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Email: euskadi-ue@ej-gv.es
Tel: 00 34 945 01 80 57. Fax: 00 34 945 01 81 51
For these purposes, the Basque Government’s European Affairs Bureau (hereinafter referred to as the “DAE”) also provides the corresponding certified translation of the texts in Spanish or Basque respectively.
The following recommendations and guidelines detail the correct procedure for drafting correspondence in Basque to be forwarded by the DAE to the EU:
Recommendations:
a) Please use the relevant correspondence model (doc 47 KB) to draft correspondence in Basque.
b) Please write as clearly and concisely as possible.
c) To identify the specific body you wish to write to, consult the Contact guide by European institution, body and agency.
d) We would be grateful if you could forward your correspondence by email (euskadi-ue@ej-gv.es) as this will help us process it more easily. We also accept, however, correspondence sent by post, fax or delivered in person to the DAE.
Guidelines:
a) Only correspondence in Basque directed to those institutions and bodies of the EU with whom the State has signed the corresponding administrative agreement shall be accepted. These institutions are as follows:
b) The DAE will not forward correspondence in Basque to the EU in the following situations:
c) If the correspondence in Basque addressed to the EU is sent by email and its authenticity has to be confirmed because of its nature (with a signature, for example), the DAE may ask the citizen to send the correspondence by post.
d) In cases where regulatory time limits must be observed, citizens should take the following points into consideration:
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Correspondence in Basque sent directly to the EU is, in principle, (unless the EU can, as an exception, translate the correspondence into Spanish using its own resources) returned to the sender so that it can be sent on to the DAE. The DAE is the Basque Government agency responsible for forwarding said correspondence in Basque to the EU along with the respective certified translation in Spanish, via the Permanent Representative of Spain to the European Union (REPER).
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In the event that the EU is obliged to reply within a certain time period, said period begins when the EU receives the certified translation in Spanish and ends when it sends its reply in Spanish to the REPER (unless, in exceptional cases, it sends the reply in Basque directly to the citizen). The REPER, for its part, passes the EU’s reply on to the DAE so that it can then be forwarded to the citizen in conjunction with the respective certified translation in Basque.
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In the event that the citizen is obliged to respond to the EU’s reply within a certain time period, the EU shall send its reply in Spanish directly to the citizen in addition to a copy to the DAE via the REPER. Irrespective of the fact that the DAE shall send the interested party the corresponding certified translation in Basque, the period of time in which the citizen is obliged to respond to the EU’s reply begins from the date on which they received the reply in Spanish.
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The DAE undertakes to process correspondence in Basque addressed to the EU as quickly as possible in addition to, where appropriate, the EU’s corresponding replies. It is not, however, responsible for any damages resulting from any failure to comply with the time periods that may possibly occur as a result of the system being put into practice.
e) The DAE, through the Official Translation Service (IZO/SOT) of the Basque Institute of Public Administration (HAEE/IVAP), monitors the corresponding certified translations in Spanish and in Basque to ensure that they accurately reflect the original correspondence in Basque and the EU’s subsequent replies respectively. The EU is not responsible, however, for any possible translation errors or the incorrect interpretation of its reply deriving from said errors.
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