|
Matthew Vella
The EU’s Translation directorate-general (DGT) has stated that the level of demand for freelance translation into Maltese has been about “the same” as that for the other new Member States’ language, possibly with the exception of the summer period where demand dipped.
In comments given to MaltaToday, Manuel de Oliveria Barata said the DG could assure that similar volumes of work had been demanded from freelance translators in Malta as those in the other new Member States.
Translation firms in Malta are still concerned about the effects of a three-year derogation on Malta’s translation obligations, awarded the day of Malta’s accession to the EU on 1 May, 2004, stating that not all EU documents were to be translated in Maltese due to the lack of qualified linguists and translators. The regulation stated that it was not possible to translate into Maltese “all Acts adopted by the institutions.”
Assistant director-general at the DGT Carole Ory also told MaltaToday last week that the Commission did not share the view that the derogation’s effects on the local translation industry was based on a problem of internal EU bureaucracy, “nor that the regime adopted has been excessively interpreted,” running counter to assertions made during a meeting between translation firms and Richard Cachia Caruana, in which it was mentioned that the derogation had been given wide interpretation by the DGT and less work was flowing to freelance translators in Mata.
“The derogation was prepared in close collaboration with the Maltese government, and the transitional regime has been adopted also on request by the Maltese government,” Ory said.
The DGT has also confirmed that Maltese translation firms which are contracted to the EU will now have access to the list of translator contractors, which until recently was the only list out of Member States not to be published. De Oliveira Barata said the address of the website containing the list of Maltese translator contractors will be published in the EU’s Official Journal on 27 October, 2004.
Translators speaking to MaltaToday complained of a lack of transparency since they were unable to know who their competitors were. The list, accessible via a password-protected internet portal, only displays the ranking of the company with access to the portal, but not of the competitors.
Translators also complained that of the 13 companies currently listed, three companies were added to the list in early July, and subsequently prompted the demotion of the other ten companies down three places. Since the list displays the ranking of each company based on price and quality of work, translators surmised how the new additions had obtained EU contracts in so short a time, since it had taken 13 months for the ten companies to be awarded EU contracts from the time of bidding back in may 2003.
De Oliveria Barata said publication of the list will not alter the way the system for award of freelance work operates, which is based on dynamic ranking of contractors. “In the case of freelance translations into Maltese, they simply have been allocated so far to the Maltese contractor with the highest ranking who has proved to have the capacity to deal with the work.”
The Maltese translation industry has already complained to Permanent Representative Richard Cachia Caruana about the lack of work reaching Malta from the EU, complaining that the three-year derogation had effectively backfired onto the local translation industry. Companies have also met with MEPs Simon Busuttil and Joseph Muscat, as well as Foreign Minister Michael Frendo.
In a two-hour meeting held with representatives from the translation industry, Cachia Caruana said the intention of the derogation had been to avoid any translation errors which could crop up on the Maltese versions of EU laws, that would have otherwise aided the creation of legal loopholes.
Cachia Caruana is expected to schedule a meeting in November to review the derogation, an assessment exercise carried out after a decision has been in force for six months. In December 2006, the Council of Ministers will review the situation of Malta’s translation effort to determine whether to extend the transitional period for a further period of one year.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
|
