4 GORZELIK AND OTHERS v. POLAND JUDGMENT two regional varieties: Kashubian and Silesian1. At the hearing, one of the applicants, Mr Gorzelik, described Silesian as a still uncodified language that was a mixture of Czech, German and Polish. 15. From 2 May to 8 June 2002 a census – the National Population and Housing Census – was carried out in Poland. Its purpose was to gather data relating to the distribution of the population, demographic and social factors, employment, standards of living and housing. It also addressed issues relating to citizenship and nationality. One of the questions relating to nationality gave the following definition: “Nationality is a declared (based on a subjective feeling) individual feature of every human being, expressing his or her emotional, cultural or genealogical (relating to parents' origin) link with a specific nation.” According to the census report prepared by the Central Statistical Office (Główny Urząd Statystyczny), 36,983,700 people (96.74% of the population) declared themselves Polish nationals. 471,500 persons (1.23% of the population) declared a non-Polish nationality, including 173,200 persons who declared that they were “Silesians”. B. Proceedings for the registration of the applicants' association 1. The first-instance proceedings 16. On an unspecified date the applicants, who describe themselves as “Silesians”, decided together with 190 other persons to form an association (stowarzyszenie) called “Union of People of Silesian Nationality” (Związek Ludności Narodowości Śląskiej). The founders subsequently adopted a memorandum of association. The applicants were elected to the provisional management committee (Komitet Założycielski) and were authorised to proceed with the registration of the association. 17. On 11 December 1996 the applicants, acting on behalf of the provisional management committee of the “Union of People of Silesian Nationality”, applied to the Katowice Regional Court (Sąd Wojewódzki) for their association to be registered. They relied on, inter alia, section 8(2) of the Law on associations (Prawo o stowarzyszeniach) of 7 April 1989. They produced the memorandum of association along with the other documents required by that Law. 18. The relevant general provisions of the memorandum of association read as follows: “1. The present association shall be called the “Union of People of Silesian Nationality” (hereafter referred to as “the Union”). 1. Source: John A. Dunn, “The Slavonic Languages in the Post-Modern Era” (www.arts.gla.ac.uk).