To Your Europe Advice, 8 March 2014

Subject:

Bulgarian diplomatic and consular officials hamper freedom of movement of translation products (goods) within the EU

Abstract:

Free movement of translation products (goods) from EU Member States into Bulgaria is seriously hampered by unnecessary re- and over-certification of signatures of Austrian, German, French etc. state-authorized translators by Bulgarian consular officials at the Bulgarian embassies and consulates. These multiple certifications are not based on any law. They do not add any extra value to the quality of the translations, either. These multiple certifications are based on some obsolete rules dating back from the times before the fall of the Iron Curtain, called Rules on Legalization, Certification and Translation of Documents and Other Papers, which say that all translations of documents and other papers in Bulgaria are carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, and abroad - by Bulgarian diplomatic and consular officials. (Art.2a, para. 1 of the Rules).

These rules contradict modern Bulgarian and European legislation, which has been admitted and confirmed not once by a number of Bulgarian authorities, such as: the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Bulgarian Council of Ministers, and by the Ombudsman of Bulgaria. The problem was identified years ago. Unfortunately, having identified the problem, and admitted that the status of the Rules is illegal and the practices based thereon corrupt, the Bulgarian authorities have not yet found a way of abolishing either the Rules or the corrupt practices based thereon.

Moreover, the Bulgarian authorities seem unwilling to do away with these corrupt practices of re- and over-certification at the Bulgarian embassies and consulates, their strongest motivation most probably being purely financial, for these multiple certifications do not guarantee any legal rights of citizens and companies that pay for them. Millions have been brought into the Bulgarian state treasury over the years in the form of illegal fees /charges (presently about 15 to 30 Euros per certification of a translator's signature).

These corrupt practices should have been abolished long ago, for they not only greatly hamper free movement of translation products (goods) within the EU, but impose illegal charges on little suspecting European citizens.

Exposition:

Let us first consider the movement of a public document* issued by a Member State of the EU. Duly apostilled, the document is ready to go directly to any other Member State, where it has to be produced.

* 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 Member State - Bulgaria.

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 Republic of Bulgaria."*

*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 Bulgaria shall be done by the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All translations of documents and other papers abroad shall be done by Bulgarian diplomatic and consular officials."

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 Bulgaria created since1990 (for more details, please see query number 142738, published at: http://softisbg.com/rennies_blog/2014/03/to-your-europe-advice-02032014.html)

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 Bulgaria, such as the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and others.

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 Austria, Germany, France or elsewhere (a.k.a. translators authorized by the state, or accredited translators, or legal translators).

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 Member State. The official kindly informed me that they did not make translators appear in person for the certification of their signatures. I asked how exactly they certified translator's signatures and whether state-authorized translators' products were not considered public documents, but did not get a reply. I contacted two more Bulgarian embassies with a similar request for information, but did not get a reply, either. Perhaps they all know very well that what they are doing with the translations of state-authorized translators in Member States of the EU not only hampers free movement of document translations but is also contrary to local and EU legislation.

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)

(shocking revelations on the part of the consular official)

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 Bulgaria. The Bulgarian MFA accepts them as done by Bulgarian consular or diplomatic officials, apparently assuming that doing a translation from one language into another is the same as certifying a translator's signature. Then the ministry most probably performs one more certification - this time of the signature and stamp of the consular or diplomatic official from the Bulgarian embassy or consulate.

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 Member State or by any other person authorised in that Member State to certify translations into the language required."

More evidence about unnecessary administrative burden hampering the free movement of document translations:

Bulgarian MFA's site - information on Austria:

http://www.mfa.bg/index.php?page=120&staticpage=findanembassy&posolstvo=7 (in Bulgarian)

"So that they can be used in Bulgaria, it is recommended that the documents issued by the competent Austrian authorities should be translated into Bulgarian by a translator sworn at court in Austria, and the translation should be certified by the Consular Office."

Bulgarian MFA's site - information on France:

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 France.  These translators are registered at the Embassy and their translations are certified by the Consular Office. Updated list of these translators is available here"

More evidence about unnecessary administrative burden hampering the free movement of document translations:

Link to a list of translators, sworn at French Appelative courts, registered at the Bulgarian embassy in Paris:

http://www.amb-bulgarie.fr/pdf/interpretes_bg.pdf (in French) 

(here you can see that the listed translators live in all parts of France; they have to travel to Paris to sign their translations in the presence of a Bulgarian consular official, which makes the procedure time-consuming and expensive without adding any extra value to the quality of the translation product)   

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."

Conclusion:

I need your advice as to how these corrupt practices of multiple certification of state-authorized translators' signatures 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 Bulgaria and the state authorities would not like to be deprived of this regular income, no matter how gangster-style it is. Do you have any ideas? Would you kindly advise me?

I just want to live in a law-abiding country, do I not have this right? I do hope you will agree that an EU Member State should be a law-abiding country, and movement of translation products (goods) with the EU should not be hampered by corrupt, illegal practices of multiple re- and over-certification of translations already certified by state-authorised German, French, Austrian etc. translators., and ultimately, that EU citizens do not deserve to be shamelessly deceived and robbed by Bulgarian diplomatic and consular officials.

Automatic confirmation of receipt:

----- Original Message -----