Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005

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Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005

Act of the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
Long title	An Act of the Scottish Parliament to establish a body having functions exercisable with a view to securing the status of the Gaelic language as an official language of Scotland commanding equal respect to the English language, including the functions of preparing a national Gaelic language plan, of requiring certain public authorities to prepare and publish Gaelic language plans in connection with the exercise of their functions and to maintain and implement such plans, and of issuing guidance in relation to Gaelic education.
Citation	2005 asp 7
Territorial extent	Scotland
Dates
Royal assent	1 June 2005
Commencement	13 February 2006[1]
Status: Current legislation

The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 (Scottish Gaelic: Achd na Gàidhlig (Alba) 2005) is an Act of the Scottish Parliament passed in 2005. It was the first piece of legislation dedicated to the Scottish Gaelic language and was seen as the first hesitant step by the Scottish Executive to provide a legislative framework for the use of Gaelic by Scottish Public sector authorities. It created a Gaelic Language Board, but created no general rights of citizens or obligations on statutory authorities to actually use the language. This is in contrast to the UK parliament's legislation for the Welsh Language (the Welsh Language Act 1993) which authorises the use of Welsh in public administration. There has been no significant development of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 between 2005 and 2021.