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22:37 Jul 25, 2019 

I think it's quite rare in US documents as well. But then I don't do very many contracts.

17:23 Jul 25, 2019 

I'm very grateful to all of you for your comments, but especially to Charles for being so thorough. From now on, I'll use "witnesseth" only for US contracts.

05:56 Jul 25, 2019 

He defends its use, referring to “blog posts by self-proclaimed contract drafting authorities telling you it’s wrong to use WITNESSETH”; he’s referring to people like Bryan Garner, editor of Black’s 9th edition, who must have written the “antiquated relic” comment.
https://witnesseth.typepad.com/blog/2012/07/why-witnesseth.h...

The general issue of “legalese” is often discussed on Kudoz and there’s a lot of support here for the “plain English” approach. Be that as it may, “witnesseth” is much less common in UK contracts nowadays than in the US. But in any case, the document you’re translating is not a contract but a government resolution. Comparable UK government documents are generally drafted differently, so they don’t offer a useful model here. English versions of EU examples, as Muriel points out, normally do it your client’s way, with “WHEREAS” followed by 1., 2., 3… That’s the way I myself handle “CONSIDERANDO” in this type of document.

“And upon” is only found in court judgments, as far as I know. It’s a matter of genre.

05:55 Jul 25, 2019 

A disclaimer: I don't consider myself an expert on legal drafting, UK or otherwise. But that said, I would do this the way your client has suggested, that is, with "Whereas", as a heading, followed by the succession of paragraphs. Not on the grounds that "clients are always right, even when they're wrong". If the client is clearly wrong, then as a matter of professional ethics one should point this out. But that's not the case here. It's not entirely true that "Witnesseth" is not used in British English; examples can be found. Here’s a UK model that does it your way:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/documents/change-order-template-for-m...

But it's not common and is generally confined to particular types of documents.

The way you did it, with "Witnesseth" and then "Whereas" before each of the following paragraphs, is a common way of drafting contracts in the US. I was amused to read the following blog by a US law professor, who points out that the use of “Witnesseth” is actually staging a comeback after a period of decline and notes that Black’s Law Dictionary, 9th edition, defines it but then describes it as an “antiquated relic”.

(continued in next comment)

03:29 Jul 25, 2019 

no doubt about it in Int Org speak

03:21 Jul 25, 2019 

I've encountered maybe a dozen synonyms (I once had to review the text of over 1,000 resolutions), but 'whereas' is your international standby.

02:26 Jul 25, 2019 

It's "whereas" for sure

22:45 Jul 24, 2019 

I'm from the UK, and I've never seen "and upon" before.

Witnesseth (which sounds silly in my opinion) means the same as whereas, so it's wrong to use them both. I would use 'whereas"- your client is incorrect.

22:20 Jul 24, 2019 

Hi Lorena, I'd never seen "and upon" before - interesting.
Do you know if that's UK English?
I hope our British colleagues will help me "unravel the mystery" here.

22:10 Jul 24, 2019 

I wonder if this can help you. Please read the text in English provided by the asker, do not know if this fits your context: https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english-to-spanish/law-general/56...

Of course we need our usual suspects from the UK(i.e. Charles Davis) to confirm or deny.
Hope you are well!