In 2004, the Act on Public Use of the Slovenian Language was passed; having been in preparation from 1996. The Law supports the further development and enforcement of the Slovenian language in traditional and numerous new areas opened up by the information society. Furthermore, it is supposed to enforce the Slovenian language in times of globalisation. To this end, it summarises the content of certain provisions from older legal provisions dealing with public use of the Slovenian language (the Consumer Protection Act, the Mass Media Act, Companies Act etc.) and tries to abolish gaps concerning responsibility, inspection and sanctions. The Law does not contain provisions on obligatory grammar, word and orthography characteristics of the Slovenian language; it rather provides for its status as an official language and the language of public communication without, at the same time, prohibiting the use of foreign languages. To this end, it determines the basic rules of language to be used by the state administration and other agencies of public authority, for education, media, commerce (marketing), industry, public performances etc. Monitoring legal provisions, creating a language policy and its implementation, are tasks of the government in general and the Ministry of Culture in particular.
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