As global trade increases, one of the challenges organisations are experiencing is a wider variation in legislative requirements from country to country.

This includes the European Union with numerous official languages and no common language policy. What are the legal considerations for British companies working with overseas organisations or suppliers to meet UK legislative requirements? This was a problem for one of our UK clients. Our client had won a major contract in Spain and employed technical Spanish contractors on short-term contracts.

They thought they had taken a robust due diligence approach in requesting the certificates and qualifications of each Spanish supplier in English. This was done by a Spanish translator, recognised in Spain as a ‘sworn’ translator, but not in the UK. Although the client has been diligent in obtaining English copies of certificates etc., these were certified in Spain and would not be recognised in the UK legal system.

To provide a cost effective solution to this problem and ensure the client had translations that were fully compliant with the UK legal system, TW Languages proofread, certified and stamped the translations as ‘true copies of the original’. There is no extra cost for certification.

The overall outcome is that the client has now reviewed their international strategy and extended their due diligence process to ensure all business translations are certified in the UK.