Question 5
What is the situation in your Member State – covering both national law and national practice - with respect to costs regarding:
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whether all costs are met by your Member State? if not, which costs are not met?
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Austria
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All the costs of interpretation and translation provided according to § 56 StPO are borne by the state (§ 381(6) StPO).
Only if interpretation and translation is provided at the request and to an extend exceeding what is required by law, the suspect will have to reimburse the costs if convicted.
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Belgium
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All the costs of oral and written translation are entirely and definitively covered by the State. Not recovery takes place against the accused if (s)he is declared guilty (or against the plaintiff if the accused is acquitted).
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Bulgaria
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In Bulgaria, both under the national law and in practice, all the costs of interpretation and translation resulting from the application of the rights to interpretation and translation are met by the State, irrespective of the outcome of the proceedings.
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Croatia
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According to Article 145, Paragraph 6 of CPC all the costs of interpretation and translation are met by the state.
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Cyprus
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According to Article 7 of the Law that provides for the Interpretation and Translation during the Criminal Proceedings (L.18(I)/2014), the Republic of Cyprus meets all costs of the translation and interpretation provided by the Law, regardless of the outcome of the criminal proceedings or the execution of the European Arrest Warrant.
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Czech Republic
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In ex officio cases (of mandatory defence when the defence lawyer is appointed by a court, unless the accused chooses his own defence lawyer) all costs on the interpretation are covered by the state, regardless of the result of the criminal proceedings.
In cases where the defence lawyer is representing his client on the basis of their agreement, all costs on interpretation before the law enforcement authorities are covered by the state, regardless of the result of the criminal proceedings. However, any interpretation outside the actions before the law enforcement authorities as e.g. preparations for the questionings, hearings are covered by a client.
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Estonia
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The costs of translation/interpretation are met by the authorities who have the obligation to ensure translation/interpretation (§ 173(4), § 177 p 3, § 178 of CCP).
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Finland
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All costs are met by the state, insofar as translations are deemed necessary. If translations are done by the suspect/defendant himself or via counsel, there is a great risk that the costs are not met. Regarding interpretation all costs are met during the pre-trial investigation stage and court proceedings. Also costs for interpretation of negotiations between the defendant and counsel are met “if the legal protection of the defendant so requires” to a reasonable amount.
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France
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All costs rest with the Ministry of Justice directly or indirectly.
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Germany
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Greece
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Under Article 238B of the Greek Code of Criminal Procedures, as replaced by Law 4236/2014 and practice, interpretation and translation costs of decisions depriving a person of his/her liberty, of indictment documents and related to the indictment judicial decisions, irrespective to the outcome of the procedure, shall be borne by the State. Exceptionally, the costs are borne by the suspect or the accused if he demonstrably can pay them.
In practice the costs are covered solely when the interpretation is held before the authorities, but not in order to ensure the communication with the counsel, or in general prepare the defence (e.g. the cost of translating documents is not covered).
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Hungary
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Only the costs of the official interpreter/translation of met by the state.
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Ireland
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Typically were a person is legally aided in their defence they will not carry any cost in relation to the translation. The reality however is that this means that they will only get as much translation as the Court will certified. This does not always include written documents and might limit the number of consultations.
A privately funded person would wish all documents that had to be considered to be translated so they could be fully understood as with correspondence from their lawyer etc.
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Italy
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The costs are anticipated by the State and recovered if the accused Is found guilty
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Latvia
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All costs are met.
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Lithuania
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All costs are met by Lithuania.
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Luxembourg
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Costs are covered in case of judicial assistance, as well as in case of non judicial assistance for every translation request done by an authority in the frame of the procedure.
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Malta
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Services ordered by the Court are borne by the State.
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Poland
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In Poland, according to Article 72 § 1 CCP a suspect (an accused) who doesn’t speak Polish in a sufficient degree has the right to free assistance of an interpreter or a translator. In turn, another Polish act – act of 27th of July, 2001 – law on the structure of common courts (consolidated text – Journal of Laws 2015, item 133 with subsequent amendments) confirms the right to free assistance of an interpreter or a translator of every person who doesn’t speak Polish language in a sufficient degree within proceedings before courts (Article 5 § 2). According to the Article 618 point 7 CCP, expenses of the State Treasury include, among others, wages of interpreters and translators. The party of the criminal proceedings – a suspect or an accused – is exempted from any costs of interpretation or translation in his or her criminal case. A suspected person – when he or she is detained – is immediately instructed about the right to free assistance of an interpreter or a translator. Due to Article 619 § 3 CCP the State Treasury covers costs connected with the assistance in criminal proceedings of an interpreter or a translator in the scope necessary to ensure for a suspect or an accused his or her right to defence. Costs resulting from the mentioned assistance charge solely the State Treasury irrespectively of the outcome of the criminal proceedings. If the participation of an interpreter or a translator in criminal proceedings exceeds the necessity to ensure for a suspect or an accused the right to defence, generally the costs of such participation are covered by the State Treasury temporarily and afterwards – taking into account among others the final results of the criminal proceedings – the costs may be returned in line with general principles indicated in the Code of Criminal Proceedings by a person who was sentenced. If there appears doubts that a concrete aspect of the participation of an interpreter or a translator is linked with the right to defence, it seems that the rule in dubio pro reo should be applied.
The wages of interpreters or translators are determined and conferred by a court or by a body conducting preparatory proceedings (Article 618l CCP). An interpreter or a translator has the right to reimbursement of all travel and stay costs (Article 618g in relation with the Article 618a CCP) as well as the right to reimbursement of lost income if his or her services weren’t applied in criminal proceedings (Article 618h § 1 CCP). The wages of interpreters or translators are conferred upon their motion (Article 618k CCP). A sworn translators gets a salary for his or her services in accordance with the Article 16 section 1 of the Act of the 25th of November, 2004 on the profession of a sworn translator and the rates of such salary are determined by the ordinance of the Minister of Justice of the 24th of June, 2005 (Journal of Laws of 2005, No 15, item 131 with subsequent amendments). These conditions are not applicable to interpreters or translators who aren’t sworn interpreters or translators. There is a lack of provisions directly addressed to the salary for the interpretation or translation service delivered by persons who are not registered as sworn translators. They could be treated as experts or specialists and they can get their salaries on the grounds of statutory and ordinance provisions concerning salaries of experts or specialists.
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Portugal
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If the lawyer is nominated all costs are met by the Member State. In the other cases are included in costs procedure.
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Romania
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Slovakia
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Yes. The costs of interpretation and translation are determined by the law enforcement body or court that assigned the interpreter and all costs are met by this body. Should the body not agree with the statement of costs submitted by the interpreter/translator, it decides on the remuneration by a ruling. It is possible to file a complaint against such ruling.
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Slovenia__Under_the_law,_all_costs_are_met_by_the_State.__Spain'>Slovenia
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Under the law, all costs are met by the State.
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Spain
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Any costs are covered by public means.
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Sweden
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All costs for interpretation during hearings and interrogations as well as translations made by the investigative authorities and courts are met directly by the Swedish state.
The lawyers´ costs for the use of interpretation during consultations between the lawyer and the client are met indirectly through a recovery procedure.
It is most uncertain whether costs for written translations provided by the lawyer are met by state.
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Switzerland
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The Netherlands
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The costs of engaging an interpreter are mainly paid from Ministry of Justice budgets. As far as translations are concerned, they certainly include the procedural documents that have been translated at the request of the suspect, as well as the providing of copies of orders with regard to police custody and pre-trial detention and the extracts of sentences. Regarding the services of interpreters, the costs of assistance of interpreters during interrogations by the police and the examining judge as well as at the trial are met by the State. For brevity's sake I refer to article 1 paragraph 4 of the Criminal Cases (Fees) Act.
With regard to the costs of interpreter assistance between counsel and suspect, the costs are fully met in case of assistance on the basis of government-funded legal aid. When a suspect is not entitled to receive government-funded legal aid, the costs of interpreter assistance must be paid by the suspect.
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UK
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England and Wales
Whether the costs of an interpreter are met by the Member State or not depends on who the interpreter is booked by and whether the Defendant is legally aided. The CPS is responsible for booking and paying for its own interpreter. The Court is responsible for booking and paying for the interpreter for the Defendant. In relation to defence witnesses the Defendant is responsible for booking the interpreter and the costs are met by the court. Although a convicted defendant may face an order for prosecution costs and a fixed ‘criminal courts charge’ (introduced this year for offences committed after 12 April 2015), such orders and charges are not intended to cover the cost of interpretation or translating services. How monies recovered from a ‘criminal court charge’ are distributed within the Ministry of Justice is unknown.
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Scotland
Regulation 16 of the 2014 Regulations provides that any interpretation assistance or any written translation, oral translation or oral summary of an essential document provided to a person under those Regulations must be provided free of charge.
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Northern Ireland
Yes if legal aid/criminal defence certificate granted. In practice never seen a defence application for translation refused. Widgery criteria re grant of legal aid has specific criteria that Legal aid should be granted of defendant can't follow/ understand proceedings. This includes due to language difficulties
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