To do this, the translator must apply to the competent court to be sworn in and prove their suitability in advance. In most cases, this is done by submitting the university diploma or Master's certificate etc. that the translator has been awarded in the ‘Translation / Interpreting’ or ‘Multilingual Communication’ degree programme.
It is important that the translator's command of legal terminology in the source and target languages can be demonstrated.
Once these documents have been examined by the court and the applicant has been found suitable, they will receive an ‘Invitation to the swearing-in appointment for document translators’. At this appointment, the translator is informed of their duties and rights as a future ‘publicly appointed and court-sworn (or sworn) document translator’. The translator must then take the oath. Here he can choose between the ‘oath with religious affirmation’ or the ‘oath without religious affirmation’.
With the subsequent signature, the now sworn/sworn translator of documents undertakes to faithfully and conscientiously carry out all ‘certified translations’ made by him/her, in accordance with §1 of the Verpflichtungsgesetz of 2 March 1974. As part of this obligation, the publicly appointed and court-sworn/sworn translator is informed of the contents of the following criminal provisions of the Criminal Code:
These penal provisions apply to the now publicly appointed and sworn/sworn translator of documents on the basis of his obligation.
The publicly appointed and sworn/sworn translator now receives his certificate of appointment or his record of swearing in as a translator of documents from the president of the court.
With this official document, he can have a so-called round stamp made, with which the ‘certified translations’ he produces can be stamped as such with immediate effect.
Certified translations are often required in the context of court proceedings, naturalisation procedures, binational marriages, emigration, repatriation, semesters abroad, etc.
If you need foreign documents/certificates in German, it may be cheaper to have them translated directly into German abroad - but these translations are not recognised by German offices, authorities and courts. In order for your official foreign documents to be recognised and used in Germany, they must be prepared by a sworn translator who has been sworn in at a German court.
Or if you need a certified translation of a German document into a foreign language (e.g. a certified translation of a school-leaving certificate into English), please contact us.
Notarisations of German documents (e.g. as a certified copy) may be carried out, for example, by municipal authorities (citizens' office), the notary or the parish office. As described above, only publicly appointed and court-certified (or sworn) document translators may provide certified translations. Often, if the certified translation is made from German into a foreign language and the translation is then to be presented or used abroad, it must also be certified by an official authority (e.g. regional court). Please ask the public authority for which the certified translation is to be produced whether this is necessary!
The ‘Hague Apostille’ also serves to confirm the authenticity of a public document and is issued by an authorised authority of the country in which the document was issued. In Germany, the BVA in Cologne is responsible for federal documents. If an apostille is to be issued for documents of the federal states, the responsibility is unfortunately not standardised. The following may be responsible: Ministries of the Interior, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, District Governments, Presidents of Regional Courts, Presidents of Local Courts, Ministries of Justice, etc. If the apostille is to be issued for a foreign document, it is best to enquire about responsibility in the issuing country.
With legalisation, the authenticity of the document is confirmed - as with the Hague Apostille. However, legalisation is carried out by the diplomatic mission or a consular official of the country in which the document is to be used. You will always be informed of the need for legalisation by the office for which the document is intended. If legalisation is required for the use of foreign documents in Germany, the German embassies and consulates abroad are responsible. However, as in the opposite case, they are dependent on preliminary or additional legalisation by public authorities in the host country.
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