Translati<strong>on</strong> Endorsed by the <str<strong>on</strong>g>Law</str<strong>on</strong>g> Committee of the Nati<strong>on</strong>al Assembly of the Lao PDRArticle 7.Prohibiti<strong>on</strong> of <strong>Land</strong> Speculati<strong>on</strong>Illegal land occupati<strong>on</strong> for the purpose of land speculati<strong>on</strong> performedbefore or after the promulgati<strong>on</strong> of the C<strong>on</strong>stituti<strong>on</strong> and this law is herebycancelled.It is prohibited to speculate <strong>on</strong> land; any individual or organisati<strong>on</strong>wishing to use land is required to have an authorizati<strong>on</strong> from the State.Part II<strong>Land</strong> Management and Registrati<strong>on</strong>Chapter I<strong>Land</strong> ManagementArticle 8. (New) <strong>Land</strong> Management Organisati<strong>on</strong> 8The land management organisati<strong>on</strong> 9 in the Lao PDR c<strong>on</strong>sists of:• Nati<strong>on</strong>al land management authority 10 ;• Provincial [and] 11 city land management authorities;• District [and] municipal land management authorities;• Village land units.8In the Lao language, the word roughly meaning “the entire organisati<strong>on</strong> of resp<strong>on</strong>siblegovernmental agencies” is capable of being translated as any <strong>on</strong>e of the following English words:“organisati<strong>on</strong>”, “agency”, or “authority”. In choosing which English word to use, the translators haveadopted the following c<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong>. Where the governmental agencies in questi<strong>on</strong> have in practiceadopted an English term for themselves (e.g., the Tax Authority), the translators have used that term.Otherwise, as in this <str<strong>on</strong>g>Law</str<strong>on</strong>g>, the translators have used the generic term “organisati<strong>on</strong>”. See also nextfootnote.9Readers should note that, at the time of translati<strong>on</strong>, this <str<strong>on</strong>g>Law</str<strong>on</strong>g> was recently enacted and thecentralised land management organisati<strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>templated by this Article had not yet been set up. Rather,the translators understand that land management resp<strong>on</strong>sibility is currently exercised by severalseparate governmental agencies. The translators were therefore unable to resolve certain word choices(e.g., whether to use “authority” or “organisati<strong>on</strong>”) based <strong>on</strong> knowledge of actual practice. Also, theLao language does not require that nouns c<strong>on</strong>tain informati<strong>on</strong> as to whether they are singular or plural.To resolve these issues, the translators have adopted the following c<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong>: (i) “organisati<strong>on</strong>” isused to refer to the overall governmental structure resp<strong>on</strong>sible for land management; and (ii)“authority” is used to refer to individual governmental agencies (whether at ministerial, divisi<strong>on</strong>al,central or local levels).10This is a reference to the c<strong>on</strong>templated land management authority at central level (ascompared to the other c<strong>on</strong>templated land manage authorities to be established at various local levels).The translators are unable to resolve definitively whether there will be <strong>on</strong>e or more of such central levelauthorities.11In Lao, a comma is often used, without further elaborati<strong>on</strong>, to mean “and”. Wherever theintended meaning is clear, the translators have translated such commas in <strong>on</strong>e of two ways: (i) bydeleting the comma and substituting it with the word “and’ in square brackets (i.e., [and]); or (ii) byretaining the comma and adding the word “and” in square brackets (i.e., , [and]). Where the meaning ismore ambiguous, the translators have translated the text literally, retaining the comma al<strong>on</strong>e. Here, acomma has been replaced by [and].3