Multilingualism creates an additional challenge for the process of legislation: Drafters have to make sure that all language versions are equivalent in both form and content. However, multilingualism can also be an opportunity: the process of drafting legislative texts in multiple languages freuqently leads to the unearthing of ambiguities and inconsistencies that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.

The 2021 anniversary conference will take a closer look at the advantanges and disadvantages associated with multilingual legislation. In contrast to other years, the conference will last for two days: The first day will be dedicated to the experiences that other countries have made with multilingual legislation, while the second day will be concerned with multilingual drafting in Switzerland.

Monday, 13 September 2021 –
Tuesday, 14 September 2021

University of Zurich, KOL-G-201 (Assembly Hall)

Email: zfr@rwi.uzh.ch

Day 1:

Opening remarks: Thomas Gächter (Dean of the Faculty of Law)

Lucja Biel (Poland), Roxanne Guerard (Canada), Stefan Höfler (Switzerland), Karen McAuliffe (UK/Ireland), Patricia Popelier (Belgium), Felix Uhlmann (Panel discussion)

Day 2:

Opening address: Corina Casanova (former Federal Chancellor)

Giovanni Bruno & Jean-Luc Egger (Federal Chancellery), Andreas Glaser (Centre for Democracy), Philipp Spoerri (Canton of Valais), Cornelia Staudinger (University of Geneva), Rico Valär (University of Zurich)