"The government's request has been submitted to the State Lithuanian Language Commission to judge on language issues and say in a separate resolution or update exiting resolutions as to how foreign names should be spelled in official documents," Minister of Justice Juozas Bernatonis told journalists.
The minister said a bill would be submitted upon receiving the clarification, but also did not discount the possibility that a ruling by the Constitutional Court might be needed.
"When the State Lithuanian Language Commission makes one or the other decision, then we'll be able to propose a bill, unless we need to turn to the Constitutional Court," the minister said.
The Constitutional Court ruled in 1999 that "Lithuanian shall be the State language, therefore in the passport of the citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, the names and family names of individuals, as well as other entries, are written in the state language of the Republic of Lithuania, i.e. in Lithuanian letters."
The Court also reiterated that in 2009 when ruled that "after the name and family name of an individual have been entered in the state language in the passport of the Republic of Lithuania, it is allowed to specify the name and family name of the individual in other, non-Lithuanian graphic signs of writing and in non-grammaticised form in other sections for entries of the passport, when the individual requests so; such entry of the name and family name of the individual in non-Lithuanian graphic signs of writing in other sections for entries of the passport should not be made equal to the entry regarding the identity of the individual made in the state language."
