Translation of an official document: Sworn, certified or jury-certified translation, what is it?
These terms define a type of translation, carried out by a certified translator, called a sworn translator, before a Court of Appeal or a High Court, depending on the country of destination of the translated document.
A simple translation of legal and legal documents is generally not sufficient in proceedings, so a sworn translator must be used.
How is a certified translation recognized?
The source document and its translation shall contain a stamp and the signature of the translator and a translation number.
Certified translation: who can issue an official translation?
The certified translator in France: a specialist validated by a Court of Appeal An official translated document can be recognized by the handwritten signature and the mandatory seal affixed by the sworn translator.
The persons able to prepare such translations are sworn experts: they are natural persons included in a list of judicial experts drawn up by a special committee following the validation of an examination.
This commission meets once a year in the French Courts of Appeal. As a result of this commission, the certified translators are included in the CESEDA list drawn up by the Public Prosecutor of each High Court.
Thus, these translation specialists have officially taken an oath and their certification is authentic before the French courts and administrations.
The swearing-in by a Court of Appeal certifies the translator’s solid experience in translation and rigorous knowledge of the law. These ensure that translations are rigorous and accurate.
The need for certified translation outside the European Union
The sworn translation is carried out by a translator from the target country or according to the standards of the destination country.
In addition, it is necessary to have the translation legalized by a chamber of commerce, by the Department of Foreign Affairs or by a consulate.
In some cases, the need for an apostille according to the Hague Conventions is even required.
Translating an official document: which documents and by whom?
Non-exhaustive list of official documents that can be translated
Legal or professional documents are numerous, here are some examples that can be translated by a certified specialist:
Administrative procedures
Legal and legal documents
Business and Work Documents
Excerpts from criminal records
Birth certificates
Driving license
Diplomas
Marriage certificates
Bank Statements
Passports / ID cards
Kbis
Minutes
Deeds notarized
GDPR Compliance Attestations
Calls for tender
Legislative texts, European directives
GTC
Contracts
Who has the skills to make a certified translation?
A professional translation agency
A translation agency may be specialized by sector, in particular in legal and legal matters, which implies that it has the necessary qualifications in business law, stock exchange law, international law or insurance law and can carry out a high quality sworn translation. Some specialized translation agencies offer to submit your document online on the site to speed up translation support.
A sworn translator
As with the translation of your PDFs or emails, you can call on a freelance translator – but one who is sworn to a Court of Appeal. Consult the list of Courts of Appeal on the official government website and contact the translator of your choice directly.
Is it possible to translate certified documents automatically?
Machine translation is used to process a certified document received, such as minutes or legislative texts. This can facilitate understanding between teams or business internationally.
However, machine translation is not certified: a sworn human must certify the document (stamp, signature and unique identification number).
In the case of large volumes of documents, it is possible for translation to use machine translation on a first step. Post-editing needs to be made even more precise and obligatory by a sworn human.
A genuine guarantee of quality in legal matters, sworn translation must be highly regulated. Certified translation is essential for legal, administrative and financial documents and is not performed by any translator or translation solution, but by a duly sworn natural person.