Court of Justice of the European Union
Language arrangements at the
Court of Justice of the European Union
Interpretation - Translation
2013
Language arrangements
1. First of all, it is important to know that the European Union, as a
confederation of Member States, has 24 official languages:
German, English, Bulgarian, Croatian, Danish, Spanish, Estonian, Finnish,
French, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Dutch,
Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish and Czech.
2. Each of these languages ​can be used in the legal procedures brought
before the Court of Justice, which is the supreme Court of the European
Union.
In order to guarantee equal access to justice for all citizens, it is essential for the
parties to proceedings before the Court to be able to use their own language.
3. The Statute of the Court, which has the same status as the treaties,
and the Rules of Procedure establish a strict set of rules governing the
use of languages based on the concept of ‘language of the case’.
The language of the case is determined for each action.
Language of the case
1. The language of the case may change according to the procedure.
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Whatever the type of case, there is always a written stage and, if appropriate,
an oral stage, which is public.
In preliminary ruling proceedings, when a national court submits questions to
the Court of Justice about the interpretation or validity of a provision of
European Union law, the language is always the one used by the national
court which makes the submission.
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In direct actions (annulment, failure to fulfil an obligation or to act,
responsibility, etc.), applicants may choose the language of the case. They are
not bound by their own nationality or by the nationality of their lawyer.
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However, where the defendant is a Member State, the language of the case is
the language, or one of the languages, of that State (for example, for Malta,
the language can be either Maltese or English).
The Court uses a common language to conduct its deliberations.
This language is, by custom, French.
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Interpretation
1. During the oral stage of the proceedings, which is public:
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In order to guarantee equal access to justice for all citizens of the European
Union, simultaneous interpretation is required at the public hearings.
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The number of languages used may vary from one hearing to another. The
teams of interpreters are put together according to the language of the case,
the language(s) of the Member States represented at the hearing and the
interpretation needs of the judges, the lawyers and any groups of visitors
present.
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The role of an interpreter is not like the role of a translator. Interpretation
does not consist of translating a written text literally, but rather in faithfully
transposing a message expressed orally from one language to another. The
interpreter works in real time making communication possible between the
speaker and the person for whom the pleadings are being conducted.
Interpretation: Logistics
1. Interpretation services
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Interpretation is provided during the hearings of the Court of Justice by
the Interpretation Directorate, which has approximately 70 permanent
interpreters. When necessary, it also calls upon the services of experienced
free-lance interpreters.
2. Courtroom and interpretation facilities
Translation
1. During the written stage of proceedings:
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All documents lodged by the parties in the language of the case are translated
into French as part of the internal working file.
However, documents exchanged between the registries and parties may be in
several languages.
This assumes particular importance at the end of the proceedings since the
only authentic version of the judgment issued by the Court of Justice is the
one which appears in the language of the case.
A large majority of the judgments are published in the European Court
Reports, which appear in all the official languages (Case law of the Court).
Translation: Logistics
1. Logistics of the translation service:
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With a staff of 924 in 2012, which represents 44.7 % of the Court's total staff,
the Translation Directorate General is the institution's largest service. When
necessary, it also calls upon the services of experienced free-lance
translators.
Translation in the Court is carried out under mandatory rules governing
languages and covers all the combinations of the official languages of the
European Union. The volume of translation work currently exceeds 1 000 000
pages per year.
The texts to be translated are all legal texts, which are highly technical in
nature. To carry out this task, the service only employs lawyer-linguists who
are fully legally qualified and have a thorough knowledge of at least two
languages other than their mother tongue.