(c) access by lawyers to registers of independent translators and interpreters which have been established (if any)?
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Austria
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A list is available online (www.sdgliste.gv.at).
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Belgium
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No.
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Bulgaria
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Ordinance No. H-1/16 May 2014 of the Ministry of Justice (see above) rules that every regional court in my country is to register a list of independent judicial interpreters/translators. The Supreme Court of Cassation may register a list of its own. Everybody (not only lawyers) may have access to these lists because they are made public by a respective announcement in “State Gazette”.
There are 28 regional courts in Bulgaria. Only 13 regional courts have published their lists so far. The National Investigation Agency and the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office of Cassation have published lists of their own.
The conclusion is that the lists of 15 regional courts are still missing and therefore are inaccessible. The Supreme Court of Cassation has not yet published its list either.
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Croatia
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A list is available online (http://www.sudacka-mreza.hr/tumaci.aspx).
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Cyprus
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As mentioned in the above paragraph the list of interpreters is published on the intranet of the Police (PORTAL) but it should be noted that there is no access by Lawyers.
In my opinion to comply with the provisions of Article 5 of the Directive our legislation should be amended and provide for an official list drafted by the Ministry of Justice and Public Order with the names of the interpreters and their qualifications so that the suspect or the accused and his/her lawyer can evaluate the credentials of the interpreters.
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Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic has a register of interpreters, which is publicly available on the website of the Ministry of Justice, the access is free of charge. The interpreters may be searched according to language or regions.
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Estonia
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The list and contact details of sworn translators is available to everybody on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
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Finland
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There are no specific registers by authorities, but for example The Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters has a search engine on its website which is open and can be used by lawyers also.
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France
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Only before police interrogations, judges auditions and hearings.
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Germany
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Greece
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In practice, the names of independent translators and interpreters are published every year in the Government Gazette. Access to lawyers is permitted but a register is not established.
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Hungary
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No special official database is available.
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Ireland
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Italy
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No, not a specific register for interpreters and translators in judicial proceedings
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Latvia
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There is no such registers.
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Lithuania
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The registers are not established in Lithuania till now.
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Luxembourg
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Yes
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Malta
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Available (justiceservices.gov.mt>Court Experts)
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Poland
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In Poland there exists an official register of sworn translators available at the webpage of the Ministry of Justice (http://bip.ms.gov.pl/pl/rejestry-i-ewidencje/tlumacze-przysiegli/). There is no problem with the access by lawyers to such register. Other persons (e.g. native speakers of a foreign language who live in Poland for a long time and also speak Polish language very well) who can be summoned by investigation or criminal justice authorities to fulfill a role of an interpreter or a translator in a criminal proceedings (so-called ad hoc interpreters or ad hoc translators) aren’t listed in separate official registers. (Such persons are summoned by a competent body if there an urgent need of criminal proceedings has appeared and the competent body knows that a summoned person has necessary language skills, proper to fulfill tasks of interpretation or translation).
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Portugal
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There is not any official register of independent translators and interpreters.
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Romania
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Slovakia
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Yes, register of independent translators and interpreters is established and accessible, appropriate qualification is verified by the Ministry of Justice in cooperation with the Institute of translation and interpreting.
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Slovenia
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Yes. The access to registers of independent translators and interpreters is provided.
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Spain
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The law which implements the directive envisages the creation of an official register of interpreters and translators, but this has not yet been put into practise. This official register does not currently exist.
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Sweden
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The Swedish Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency has established a national public register of authorized translators/interpreters and translators/interpreters approved by the authority. The register is made available to public on the website. The register includes only the interpreters and translators who have permitted publication of their details.
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The Netherlands
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There is a Bureau Sworn Court Interpreters and Translators Act in the Netherlands. This bureau updates the register on that subject. Actors in the criminal justice system are obliged to engage only registered interpreters and translators. As far as lawyers are concerned, in case they applied for government-funded legal aid, they are also obliged to engage registered interpreters and translators. The register can be consulted via the internet, http://www.bureaubtv.nl
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UK
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England and Wales
At most court centres, there is a list of independent translators, but the upkeep of the list is very much a matter for the staff at the court. The National Register of Public Service Interpreters has a searchable database of all its members http://www.nrpsi.org.uk/. The Chartered Institute of Linguistics (which runs the DPI and DPSI courses) also has a searchable database of fellows and members of the CIOL who will generally be qualified at a higher level.
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Scotland
There is no independent register of translators or interpreters in Scotland, however the Scottish Legal Aid Board maintains a register of interpreters, with the caveat that “inclusion on the Register does not imply endorsement by SLAB”.
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Northern Ireland
Publicly funded work must use FLEX interpreting firm- they hold current contract with LAA Privately funded can also use NICEM registered interpreters who maintain a register- NICEM were previously providing publicly funded interpreters
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Question 4
What is the situation in your Member State – covering both national law and national practice - with respect to record keeping regarding:
(a) questioning or hearings with the assistance of an interpreter?
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Austria
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The name and details of the interpreter are recorded in the written protocol.
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Belgium
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The Belgian code of criminal procedure requires that the statement of interrogation mentions expressively all the circumstances of and participants to the interrogation. So, any intervention of a translator during the interrogation will be recorded in the statement as well as his/her identity and capacity of sworn translator and also which documents he/she has translated if any.
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Bulgaria
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The national law requires that the occurrence of questioning and hearings with the assistance of an interpreter shall be noted in accordance with the recording procedure in Bulgaria. In practice this is always done without any exceptions whatsoever.
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Croatia
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According to Article 273 of CPC, suspect or accused person are entitled on interpreter during questioning and hearing. In a doubt if the suspect or accused person understand domestic language, the competenet body will assure participation of the interpreter.
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Cyprus
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According to Article 8 (a) of the Law that provides for the Interpretation and Translation during the Criminal Proceedings (L. 18(I)/2014),
(a) when a suspect or accused person has been subjected to questioning or/and hearing by an investigative or/and judicial authority with the assistance of an interpreter or/and
the competent authority records the event in the relevant file or/and the minutes of the procedure.
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Czech Republic
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The record is drafted in the Czech language, even though the person speaks in a different language; if the verbatim version matters, the relevant part is recorded in the language that the person is using (see Section 55(4) CCP).
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Estonia
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The fact that an interpreter participated in a procedural act must be stated in the report of that act (§ 146(2)p6 of CCP) or minutes of court hearing (§ 155(2)p3 of CCP).
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Finland
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There is a Government Decree on Criminal Investigation, Coercive Measures and Secret Obtaining of Information (122/2014), in which it is stated that the question of the language used and if interpretation has been used needs to be written down in the pre-trial investigation report. A provision of this also exist in the Criminal Investigation Act and the Criminal Procedure Act regarding court proceedings.
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France
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The name and the quality of the interpreter is written down in the all the minutes of the proceedings acts.
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Germany
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Greece
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Under Article 238A of the Greek Code of Criminal Procedures, as replaced by Law 4236/2014 and practice, when a suspected or accused person has been subject to questioning with the assistance of an interpreter, a report is written or a reference is made in the report written by the competent each time authority.
There is always a note that the testimony or the apology of the accused was made with the assistance of an interpreter, and his name.
Archives are not kept except the references mentioned.
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Hungary
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All questionings or hearings are made with the assistance of an interpreter.
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Ireland
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All questioning in police custody and all Court hearings are recorded. Police custody is recorded audio visually and Court hearings are recorded on digital audio tape.
However in the Court setting what is recorded is the comments of the lawyers, witnesses and judge. The discussion between the translator and the accused is not recorded and there is no evidence as to the quality of translation. The translator is only recorded in the Court proceedings when a witness in that language is being examined and the translator has to translate the question from English to the witness’ language and vice versa with the replies.
In the police station consultations between lawyer. client and translator are not recorded for obvious reasons. Hence there is also no guarantee of quality or record of it.
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Italy
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Yes, it is recorded if the audio-recording procedure is provided for the single hearing without the interpreter
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Latvia
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Interpreter is informed about the rights and duties of an interpreter, as well as the liability regarding false translation or a refusal to translate. Interpreter confirms his or her awareness with a signature in a separate document or in protocol.
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Lithuania
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The Lithuanian law does not foresee the obligation for the authorities to record the questioning of the suspect when he/she is being questioned with the assistance of an interpreter. It is the choice of the pre-trial investigation officer or the prosecutor to make records of the questioning or not. Besides, not every police station or/and prosecutor is equipped with the special recording devices. The records are obligatory to be made during the court hearings and the questioning of the accused is being recorded whether he/she is being questioned with the assistance of an interpreter or not.
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Luxembourg
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No record keeping, this is one of the most important improvements to undertake in Luxemburgish procedure
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Malta
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Minuted in proceedings
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Poland
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In Poland, according to the Article 72 § 2 CCP, if a suspected or an accused person is a subject to questionings or hearings by an investigative or judicial authority and he or she doesn’t speak Polish, the assistance of interpreter is mandatory and it’s indicated in minutes of these proceedings activities. So, the assistance of an interpreter is indicated in records of criminal proceedings. According to provisions of the Article 147 CCP such assistance (but not expressis verbis) could be also recorded by using devices recording picture and sound. Such recording is prepared beside (not instead) of minutes of questioning or hearing and it is attached to the minutes. If an accused is not in the venue of a trial, an interpreter or a translator shall participate in judicial activities performing with using of technical devices enabling distant performance of such activities. An interpreter or a translator shall be present in the venue of the stay of an accused (Article 517b § 2d CCP). I have no concrete data concerning practice in these fields.
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Portugal
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In these cases, it is registered in the judicial process that there was intervention of a translator.
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Romania
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Slovakia
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Every act in the course of criminal proceeding must be recorded in the Minutes, either while the act is being performed or directly afterwards. Minutes include information on all persons present (name, address, position). If the act is performed in the presence of interpreter, he/she signs the Minutes of the proceeding. According to Sec. 58 par. 3 CCP the report on the statement of a person who does not speak Slovak shall be drawn up in Slovak.
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Slovenia
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Minutes of the questioning/hearing of the suspect shall record whether the questioning/hearing was conducted with the assistance of an interpreter.
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Spain
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Every procedural act is recorded, by writing or by video.
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Sweden
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According to law and practice it is noted in the record when a suspect or accused person has been assisted by an interpreter during an interrogation or a hearing.
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The Netherlands
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In case of an interrogation situation, the suspect who has no (thorough) command of the Dutch language, is allowed to request the assistance of an interpreter under the terms of article 29a NCCP.
In case an interpreter is engaged, this will be included in the official report, stating the personal particulars of the interpreter in question and, as and when necessary, his registration number
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UK
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England and Wales
In the police station, a note or record of the use of an interpreter is recorded in a computer generated document called a ‘Custody Record’. A custody record is created for all persons detained and questioned in a police station whether or not they are arrested. The custody record is stored electronically. The relevant entries on the custody record are made by the custody officer. The custody record of a person detained or questioned at a police station is disclosed (subject to a relevance test) to a defendant at trial.
The use of an interpreter at trial is recorded on the court record, which is kept with the court.
Records of the use of interpreters in police stations are kept by the relevant constabulary for accounting purposes. Records for accounting purposes of the use of interpreters at hearings are kept by the Courts and Tribunal Service, which is a division of the Ministry of Justice. The records are at present, not publicly available.
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Scotland
Reg 14 of the 2014 Regulations provides that the clerk of court must make a record of the fact that interpretation assistance is provided.
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Northern Ireland
Police station PACE order. All interviews oral recording, copy of recording provided to defendant
Magistrates court written note of outcome of hearing kept by court staff and magistrate
Crown court oral recording of all proceedings
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