Legal Language Harmonisation System for Environment and Spatial Planning within the Multilingual Alps

The LexALP project intends to contribute to supranational communication by responding to the requirement of greater univocity and clarity expressed by organizations in the field of spatial planning, in particular by the Alpine Convention, in order to promote the economic, social and cultural development of the Alpine arc. The project's objective is therefore to harmonise the terminology of the Convention's four languages (French, German, Italian and Slovene) so that the member states are able to cooperate effectively, surpassing the obstacles posed by the differences in the respective legal systems and the disputes over the conception and execution of common politics in the fields of spatial planning.  

The methodologies and instruments developed by LexALP help compare the specialised terminology of six different national legal systems (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland) and more than one supranational system (EU law, International law and, within the latter, the particular frame of the Alpine Convention) in four different languages, and to harmonise it, thus optimising the understanding between the various Alpine states in spatial planning matters. Harmonised terms (to be officially validated, constantly updated and made freely available online) are then bound to foster mutual understanding and economic development as well as the rise of a common Alpine culture.

In order to reach its objective, a corpus of relevant legislation of all involved states and a terminology database have been created in the frame of the project. Tools for terminology extraction and recognition have been adapted or implemented. All these tools are available via the LexALP Information System. Finally, to disseminate activities and results, several training sessions and an international conference have been organised.

LexALP is a project planned for a duration of three years (January 2005 - February 2008), and is co-financed in the context of the INTERREG IIIB Alpine Space programme.

last update 27.2.2008