Together with nearly all who work in the translation field, and in particular as an agency that deals with official translations almost every day, we have been asking ourselves the following question even before COVID: how can we make the most out of digital signatures in our work?

Following the outbreak of the pandemic, it seems that the Oficina de Interpretación de Lenguas (the Language Interpretation Office of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs) must have received a flood of queries regarding the validity of the electronically signed official translations submitted to the public authorities. Although current regulations do not yet stipulate anything in this regard, the following clarification was published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

In response to the numerous queries about the validity and official nature of the translations done by Official Translators-Interpreters that are sent by means of electronic devices and signed electronically, we hereby make the following statement:

Article 10 of Act 39 of 1 October 2015 on the common administrative procedure for public authorities contains a list of the signing systems admitted by the public authorities. Since such authorities are the main recipients of the documents translated by the official translators and interpreters, it is admissible for them to be signed electronically by means of any of the systems listed in the aforementioned article.  

Click on this link to read the aforementioned Act 39/2015.

In other words, while this pandemic lasts and as long as they have a valid electronic certificate, translators can digitally sign their translations and it is assumed that the public authorities will consider them equally as valid as their corresponding analogue version (printed on paper, as was customary previously).

Has the process changed?

Apart from the added final step of incorporating the electronic signature into the digitalised translation, the process is the same, being as follows:

  • The translator obtains his/her digital certificate, issued by the Spanish Mint (Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre), which confirms his/her identity as a natural person.
  • The translator does the translation as usual, using the digital tool of his/her choice.
  • The translator prints, signs and stamps the translation, its certification and the original document. The certification must be formulated in the following way:

I, Mr./Ms. [name], official translator-interpreter of [authorised language], appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation, certify that the preceding document is a true and accurate translation into [target language] of the text drawn up in [source language].  

In [place], on [date].

  • Once the paper version is ready, it is then digitalised. The digital signature is incorporated into the scanned document, normally a PDF file, using the relevant Adobe Acrobat tool. Find out here how to use it.
What conclusions can we draw from this?

On the one hand, this added step to validate official translations implies certain advantages:

  • We no longer have to depend on postal and courier services to deliver the documents to their recipient.
  • Costs and execution and delivery times are reduced.
  • Moreover, we avoid unnecessary contact.

And what are the disadvantages? These measures are still only a temporary solution and many of the recipients of official translations are not aware that the digital signature confers them the same legal validity as the paper version before the public authorities. As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, even before the COVID pandemic many of us in this profession were already asking ourselves if one day we will be able to manage (almost) completely without printers, streamline a good amount of our daily tasks and, of course, reduce the unnecessary use of paper.

Header image: Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash