Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, as amended by the Scottish Languages Act 2025, and Bòrd na Gàidhlig statutory guidance on Gaelic language plans.

The 2005 Act came into force on 13 February 2006. It set up Bòrd na Gàidhlig with a view to securing Gaelic as an official language of Scotland commanding equal respect to English. Under section 3 the Bòrd can serve notice on a relevant public authority requiring a Gaelic language plan: the measures the authority will take in using Gaelic in its functions, with dates. Plans are reviewed at least every five years. Councils, health boards, universities and national bodies all hold plans.

The Act does not prescribe how a bilingual sign must look. Language order, relative size and which signs are bilingual are set authority by authority in the plan, guided by the Bòrd's statutory guidance.

The statutory guidance approved by Scottish Ministers in April 2024 lists signage as one of the core corporate commitments every plan should address. It says that for national bodies, front line services and signage and displays for the general public are of particular importance. It expects every authority, over time and as signs come up for renewal, to have a bilingual corporate logo and bilingual external signage at principal buildings such as head offices. In areas where at least 20% of people have Gaelic skills, services in Gaelic should be equitable to those in English.

It also asks authorities to follow the latest Gaelic Orthographic Conventions and to use Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba for place-name signage, which is the step most often missed on a rebrand.

The Scottish Languages Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 31 July 2025 and amends the 2005 Act. It gives Scottish Ministers power to set Gaelic language standards for public authorities. It also lets councils designate areas of linguistic significance, where plans must set out specific measures. The designation power came into force for Na h-Eileanan an Iar on 21 March 2026, for Highland and Argyll and Bute on 1 September 2026, and for the rest of Scotland from 1 January 2027. Once the standards power is in force, Ministers must lay the first standards regulations within a year.

Ireland applies one rule to every public body: Irish first, no smaller, no less prominent. Wales imposes binding standards per body, including Welsh positioned to be read first. Scotland's plan-based approach gives more design latitude but less certainty, so agree language order, hierarchy and translation sign-off with the client at concept stage.