Abstract. Free movement of translation products (goods) from EU Member States into
Similar overcomplicated certification procedures "welcome" people and capitals from EU Member States willing to settle in
All these requirements might have been justified to some extent in spite of hampering free movement of goods, people and capitals if they at least had been established in a lawfully way so as to guarantee people's proprietary rights or translators' authentic signatures. But they are neither.
Based on a quasi normative act, called Rules on Legalization, Certification and Translation of Documents and Other Papers 1958, last modified as far back as in 1990, these requirement are forced onto little suspecting people and companies from EU Member States as if to remind them of Dante Alighieri' quote, "'All hope abandon ye who enter here".
Re: Freedom of movement of translation products (goods) within the EU
Hello,
Let us first consider the movement of a public document* issued by a
* see Art. 1 of the Apostille Convention for a definition of public document:
http://www.hcch.net/upload/conventions/txt12en.pdf
The apostilled public document is exempted from legalization*.
* see Art. 2 of the Apostille Convention for a definition of legalization.
In a foreseeable future, even the apostille is going to be abolished within the EU* and free movement of multi-language public documents is going to be established within the EU.
see "European Commission acts to slash red tape in all Member States"
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-355_en.htm (in English)
However, some non-standard public documents will certainly remain outside the scope of the undertaken measures toward facilitated movement of public documents within the EU.
These non-standard public documents will obviously need to be translated on an individual basis.
Now, when I am writing to you for advice, the number of public documents that need to be translated on an individual basis is quite large.
The advice I am seeking from you concerns the free movement of individual translations of public documents nowadays, or rather, the obstacles to their free movement within the EU. And most specifically, the obstacles created by one
At present, the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires that a foreign public document should be translated into Bulgarian in either of these two ways:
"1/ by a consular or diplomatic official in the country where the document is issued;
2/ by a translation agency authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
*see the website of the MFA of Bulgaria: http://www.mfa.bg/en/pages/51/index.html (in English).
Both requirements, number 1/ and number 2/, are based on Art. 2a, para. 1 of the Rules on Legalization, Certification and Translation of Documents and Other Papers.
"Art. 2a, para. 1. All translations of documents and other papers in
Requirement Number 2/ is also based on Art. 2a, para. 2 of the said Rules.
"Art. 2a, para. 2. The ministry may assign the translations [it does] through a contract to state, public, cooperative and private companies."
The Rules on legalization, etc. are published on the site of the MFA of Bulgaria at: http://www.mfa.bg/uploads/files/Pravilnik(1).pdf (in Bulgarian)
The Rules were created in 1958 and last modified on 25 December 1990. The Bulgarian authorities are aware that they are obsolete and at variance with the national, EU's and international law, that they are non-existent in the legal sense of "a normative act" (see BG Law on Normative Acts). Nonetheless, they are still used and are omnipresent in the modern legislation of
With regard to free movement of translation products within the EU, Requirement No 1/ means that any document translation into Bulgarian which has been done abroad by a translator from a Member State will go straight into the garbage bin on its arrival in Bulgaria. A document translation has no chance to overcome this obstacle unless it has been done by a consular or diplomatic official in the country where the document was issued.
However, translation services are not among consular and diplomatic officials' functions. These functions are explicitly listed in international conventions ratified by
Well, as far as translation activities are not forbidden by law, Bulgarian consular and diplomatic officials could do document translations if the Bulgarian MFA requires that they should.
Unfortunately, they do otherwise. They "register" translators, already registered at local courts in Member States like
Then they certify their signatures, which means that the translators have to travel from all parts of the country to the Bulgarian embassy or consulate in order to sign their translations in front of a Bulgarian official. So as not to waste the translators' time and money on travelling, the Bulgarian consular or diplomatic officials probably certify translators' signatures in the absence of the translators. This is what I understood from my short correspondence with an official from a Bulgarian embassy in a
Link to my correspondence with an official from a Bulgarian embassy in the EU:
http://softisbg.com/rennies_blog/2013/12/-27-30122013.html (in Bulgarian)
The translations, done by state-authorized French, German, Austrian etc. translators who have allegedly travelled to the respective Bulgarian embassy or consulate to have their signatures certified, are then sent to
All these multiple certifications add none of extra value to the quality of the translations done by highly qualified Austrian, German or French etc. state-authorized translators. The procedure is time-consuming, expensive and overly complicated, which has already been noticed by the Commission on the European communities.
Link to the Commission on the European communities' report, 2008:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0194:FIN:EN:DOC:
"Unnecessary and disproportionate administrative costs severely hamper economic activity."
"A sufficient degree of reliability can be assumed where a translation has been certified by a translator who has been officially appointed and sworn in another
More evidence about unnecessary administrative burden hampering the free movement of document translations:
Bulgarian MFA's site - information on
http://www.mfa.bg/index.php?page=120&staticpage=findanembassy&posolstvo=7 (in Bulgarian)
"So that they can be used in
Bulgarian MFA's site - information on
http://www.mfa.bg/index.php?page=120&staticpage=findanembassy&posolstvo=162 (in Bulgarian)
"Certification of a translator who is present in the list of the embassy. When you need certified translations from Bulgarian into French and vice versa, you can turn to the translators sworn at the Appelative courts in
Link to a list of translators, sworn at French Appelative courts, registered at the Bulgarian embassy in
http://www.amb-bulgarie.fr/pdf/interpretes_bg.pdf (in French)
(here you can see that the listed translators live in all parts of
Wrong explanations on the site of the Bulgarian embassy in Paris
http://www.amb-bulgarie.fr/serv_consulaire_legi.php (in French)
"Traductions. Légalisation de la signature du traducteur :
L'Ambassade de la République de Bulgarie ne dispose pas de traducteurs-interprètes français - bulgare, bulgare - français nommés à cette fin. Si des traductions s'avèrent nécessaires, les ressortissants bulgares et les étrangers doivent s'adresser aux traducteurs assermentés auprès des Tribunaux d'appel en France, qui sont enregistrés à l'Ambassade de Bulgarie et dont les traductions sont acceptées par le Service consulaire à être certifiées. Pour télécharger la liste des traducteurs assermentés agréés par l'Ambassade, veuillez cliquer ici.
L'Ambassade ne légalise que des traductions faites par des traducteurs assermentés enregistrés à l'Ambassade.
La légalisation de la signature du traducteur apposée sur une traduction est taxée selon le Tarif No 3."
I do need your advice as to how these corrupt practices of multiple certification of state-authorized translators' signature at the Bulgarian embassies and consulates could be terminated. Bulgarian state authorities have a very strong motivation to maintain these corrupt practices. Their motivation is financial. The fees collected from such unnecessary procedures that hamper free movement of document translations come into the budget of
Having described the hurdles on the way of free trans-border movement of translation products (goods), I am now going to describe how these multiple certification practices hamper free movement of people and businesses from EU countries into
I am not going to discuss the unique way Bulgarian agencies are "authorized" by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Anyway, it's no use bothering with any public procedures in this case. The ministry does not actually assign any translation work to the hundreds of its "contractors". The sole purpose of those "contracts" is quite different: the "contractors" are obligated to submit the translations to their "Client" so that the latter will "certify" the translators' signatures. This "certification" is done in violation of the Law on Notaries and Notarial Acts, by the admission of the ministry itself.
Here's the admission of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, March 2013:
http://www.softisbg.com/rennies_blog/translation-business/MVnR_12PR-1149_21032013.pdf (in Bulgarian)
This is Official Letter Ref. No. 12PR-1149/21-03-2013 from the MFA to the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria, where you can read: "the certification of the signatures of translators [from the whole
Despite admitting so, the "Client" performs this "certification" as a service to its "contractors". The "contractors" willingly pay (from the pockets of their customers) and enjoy being "authorized" ("licensed"). The Internet abounds of advertisement for "translations and legalizations" done by "licensed" companies which have signed a contract with the Bulgarian MFA.
You know that normally it is the Client that pays to the Contractor, do you not? Well, in this case, the roles are reversed. And - surprise! - there is nothing in the contract between the ministry and its hundreds of "contractors" about this kind of service. It is done by word of mouth, by oral agreement between the "Client" (the ministry) and its multiple "contractors" (the falsely authorized agencies).
But let me not bore you with the criminal activities of the respectable Ministry of Foreign Affairs of an EU Member State. You are only interested in the issue of free movement of people, services and goods.
So, back to the topic of free movement. The corrupt practices on certified translations established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria (as cited above herein) hamper the free movement of translation products (goods) as well as free movement of people, services etc.
Imagine a company from an EU Member State, say,
First scenario: the German company presents to the Bulgarian authorities/bodies all the required documents in translation done by a German state-authorized translator. Ooops, the translation is thrown into the garbage bin right away. Explanation - only translations done by Bulgarian consular or diplomatic officials or by an authorized Bulgarian agency are accepted in
Second scenario: the German company goes to an authorized Bulgarian agency, gets the required documents translated and submits them to the Bulgarian Registry Agency. Ooops, they refuse to accept them. Explanation: the translator's signature should be certified by the MFA of Bulgaria - this is a requirement set out in Decree No. 1 of the Registry Agency.
Decree No. 1 for keeping, storage and access to the Company Register, in force since 01-07-2007, modified 2011:
http://www.lex.bg/bg/laws/ldoc/2135545013 (in Bulgarian)
"Art. 7, para. 3. When the documents under para. 1 and 2 are in a foreign language, they shall be presented along with certified translation in Bulgarian language done according to Art 2a, para. 2 of the Rules on Legalization, Certification and Translation of Documents and Other Papers."
The German company tries to object: "But they were done exactly this way!" "Sorry, there was not a translator's signature certification by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs!" The German company either obeys or takes legal action.
Please, note that there have been tens, maybe hundreds, of court cases against the Registry Agency's rejection based on the Rules. In most, maybe in all, cases the court decides that the rejection was unlawful because Art. 2a, para.2 only says:
Art. 2, para. 2 of the notorious Rules: "The ministry may assign the translations [it does] through a contract to state, public, cooperative and private companies."
So finally this German company has successfully been registered at the Bulgarian Registry Agency. The end is happy, so to say. Yes, happy, but only for this company, and only if you ignore the hurdles it had to overcome, the extra expenses incurred, the time wasted, the nerves strained.
And here comes another episode of this never ending happy-end story. A company from
Each foreign company is bound to ride the same bureaucratic Merry-Go-Round in
The bureaucratic Merry-Go-Round will be turning round over and over again. It will stop only when the wicked Rules are revoked. Ooops, they cannot be revoked! They do not comply with the Law on Normative Acts. They do not exist in the legal sense of "a normative act". That's why they cannot be modified or revoked. They can only go into deeper and deeper contradiction with modern Bulgarian, European and international legislation.
These happy-end stories will go on and on until the controlling bodies in
This apparition of Rules has brought oodles of headaches and dizziness to EU Member States companies.
I do hope you would not say again." Unfortunately, we will not be able to help you". I don't need help. The issue I'm trying to bring to your kind attention concerns exactly obstacles to free movement of people, businesses, services, etc. caused by some outrageously freak Rules on Legalization, Certification and Translation dating back from the totalitarian times (1958! none of free movement between the Communist Bloc and Western Europe! the Iron Curtain!).
These monstrous Rules have remained unmodified since the very first year of democratic changes in
These Rules prevent business people from free movement by erecting administrative barriers before them. I hope you can now see how serious the problem is and will be able to relate it straight to the issue of Internal Market Rights (freedom of movements of people, goods, services and capital within the EU) where it belongs.
In short, a legal freak, called Rules on Legalization, Certification and Translation of Documents and Other Papers 1958, last modified 1990, is a huge source of never-ending hurdles to free movement people, goods, services and capital within the EU.
- Translations done by highly qualified Austrian, German, French etc. state-authorized translators (certified, sworn, duly registered, usually at the local courts in Austria, Germany, France, etc. respectively), are thrown into the garbage bin and done again in
- Bulgarian consular and diplomatic officials credit themselves with translations done by state-authorized translators in EU Member States. The Bulgarian MFA accepts them assuming that doing a translation is the same as certifying a translator's signature. The ministry and its officials all over the world are driven by a very strong motivation - money. They wouldn't like to stop unless control were exercised from authorities superior to them. Perhaps EU authorities?
- Innumerable court battles are fought between EU Member States companies and the Bulgarian Registry Agency over the same controversial issue - how should translations be certified in the
Look forward to your competent advice on how these artificial, deep-rooted obstacles before free movement of translation products could be removed for the benefit of all EU citizens. I would appreciate if you could give your name(s) under your reply.
Thank you in advance,
Faithfully,
Reneta (Rennie) Todorova Stoyanova
My blog, dedicated to fighting corrupt practices in certified translations which hamper free movement of people, services, goods and capitals within the EU: http://rennie.blog.bg/
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