by Jean Storms, SPF Justice attaché
Origins
The national register of judicial experts, and sworn translators, interpreters and translators-interpreters (hereinafter the “national register”) was initially inspired by the European Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings.
This Directive was drawn up as part of the development of measures aimed at implementing the principle of mutual recognition of decisions in criminal cases. In this context, Member States have committed themselves to taking steps to ensure the quality of the interpretations and translations provided and, in particular, to establishing one or several registers of freelance translators and interpreters with the required qualifications. This register will, where appropriate, be made available to legal advisers and the relevant authorities. Emphasis was also placed on ethics, with Member States having also committed themselves to ensuring that interpreters and translators are required to respect the confidentiality of the interpretation and translations provided.
There is no EU directive on judicial experts; however, Belgium has drawn a parallel between this quality requirement for sworn translators and interpreters and the quality one is entitled to expect from a judicial expert. It is indeed essential for a judge to be able to call on an expert who can provide technical advice, in fulfilling his mission, in a particular area, with complete independence and impartiality. Given the rate at which our complex society is changing, a magistrate may be faced with a wide range of issues that often go beyond his or her field of expertise. For example, questions may arise in relation to fire safety, accounting or psychiatry, all subjects regarding which a magistrate will need to consult an expert. Naturally, an expert is expected to have technical knowledge of the particular subject matter in which he is competent. But he or she is also expected to have basic knowledge of judicial proceedings and a willingness to help resolve a dispute. Otherwise, it might be the case that the expert determination may not be carried out on a regular basis, which would invalidate the entire expertise, which would then have to be repeated, thus occasioning further costs and delays.
In Belgium, in the past, such expectations could not be guaranteed due to the lack of a legal framework. Prior to the creation of the national register, public prosecutors, courts and tribunals could decide at their own discretion as to who they felt they could call upon as judicial experts and sworn translators and/or interpreters. Most of these judicial authorities had drawn up their list of experts and translators and/or interpreters based on their own selection criteria.
Being concerned with the need to consult qualified individuals, some judicial authorities had started to set up admission and assessment committees and to establish more objective quality criteria. The experts whom these authorities had become used to calling upon were mostly only locally based. So much so, that a sworn translator or interpreter could, for example, have his work recognised only by the court that had recognised it.
The Becq law
The aim of the law of 10 April 2014 amending various provisions with a view to establishing a national register of judicial experts and establishing a national register of sworn translators, interpreters and translator-interpreters, also known as the Becq law after the CD&V MP Sonia Becq, who initiated it, was to create a common directory of experts, translators and interpreters, which can be called upon in the context of certain judicial or administrative procedures and which guarantees compliance with quality criteria with regard to the professional skills, legal knowledge and training of the persons concerned.
The aim is to provide a quality guarantee through strict admission requirements. The law of 10 April 2014 determines the framework and principles to be observed in this respect and entrusted the King with the task of organising its implementation in the form of implementing decrees. These determine, among other things, the requirements and quality criteria that the persons listed in the national register must meet in terms of professional skills, legal knowledge and further training.
Since 2016, in order to be granted the title of judicial expert, or sworn translator or interpreter by the Minister of Justice (in practice a delegated official appointed by the latter), it is necessary, on the recommendation of an Accreditation Commission, to be registered in the national register. Aside from the exceptions listed exhaustively, it is inclusion in the national register that confers these titles.
As required by the Belgian multilingualism, the Accreditation Commission is composed of a Dutch-speaking and a French-speaking chamber (which is also competent to examine files submitted by German-speaking persons). These two chambers are in turn composed of five people: two magistrates (one of whom chairs the chamber), a registrar or secretary of the public prosecutor’s office, an official representing the national register service and a non-permanent ‘ad hoc’ member appointed by the president for the session on account of his/her specific expertise.
The task of this approval committee is to examine whether the natural persons who submit an application for registration in the national register meet the following conditions:
Registration conditions
| For judicial experts: ——————————————- | For sworn translators and interpreters: ———————————————- |
| Be a national of a Member State of the European Union or legally resident there; | Idem |
| Not have been sentenced to a correctional or criminal sentence (except for traffic offences); | Idem |
| be at least 21 years old; | |
| Provide evidence of professional aptitude by: — degree(s) and proof of at least 5 years of relevant experience within the last 8 years — in the absence of a degree, evidence of at least 15 years of relevant experience over the last 20 years — any other document attesting to expertise in the areas of competence and specialisation requested | Provide proof of professional aptitude by means of all evidence attesting to written and/or oral knowledge of the language combinations requested, i.e. : — the degree(s) — proof of passing a recognised language test — all evidence attesting to 2 years of relevant professional experience within the last 8 years |
| Provide proof of legal knowledge by producing a certificate issued after having completed a minimum of 26 hours of training | Idem |
| The conditions relating to professional aptitude and legal knowledge are presumed to be fulfilled for persons who are linked to an institution accredited by BELAC (i.e. the Belgian accreditation body), or who are directly engaged by the Federal Public Service Justice (hereinafter “FPS Justice”) as judicial experts, or sworn translators, interpreters or translators-interpreters. A presumption of professional competence also exists for those who practice a profession regulated by law. However, they will still have to demonstrate their legal knowledge | Idem |
These are the conditions for inclusion in the national register and for being called upon to act as a judicial expert, or sworn translator and/or interpreter.
Transitional regime
However, a transitional regime allowing provisional registrations under slightly more flexible conditions had been in place4 until recently. The judicial experts were all exempted from proving their legal knowledge. Those who could prove that they had worked for the judicial authorities before 2016 could be registered in the provisional register without having to prove their professional skills within the meaning of Article 555/13. § 1. This transitional arrangement ended on 1 December 2022, so that the effective implementation of the legal framework took full effect as of that date.
Effective implementation
Obligations
Once registered in the national register, the judicial expert, or sworn translator, interpreter or translator-interpreter is subject to compliance with certain obligations: to be available to the authorities who may call upon their services, to undergo continuous training in their field (expertise or language) and in judicial proceedings, to respect the code of ethics5 and to keep their contact details up to date. The registration in the national register is valid for 6 years, renewable for the same period, provided that a request is made. The accreditation commission will then verify that the obligations and conditions for extending the person’s registration are met.
Role of the FPS Justice
The legislator has entrusted the FPS Justice with important tasks in this respect. Its task is to perform, on the initiative and under the supervision of the Accreditation Committee, permanent quality control over the appointment of judicial experts and sworn translators, interpreters and translator-interpreters. It must also continuously monitor compliance with the code of ethics and the quality of the performance of expertise assignments and prepare all files that are submitted to the Accreditation Commission for its opinion. Since the end of 2016, it has also been responsible for the management and continuous updating of the national register.
Access to the registry
Until March 2022, it was only accessible to judicial authorities. Before the register was created, it was not uncommon for certain specialists, wishing to expand their clientèle, to advertise themselves as judicial experts – a title deemed to be a guarantee of seriousness – even though this title had not previously been regulated, and only magistrates were aware of the composition of the lists of experts. For that reason, the legislator considered it important that the title of judicial expert (as well as sworn translator and interpreter) should not only be well regulated, but also that a certain amount of publicity should be given to the national register, so that any member of the public can check for himself the quality of the specialist, who is called upon to intervene in judicial proceedings.
Since 18 March 2022, part of the national register has therefore been made public to all and is now accessible online, via the platform www.justonweb.be. Therefore, any member of the public, even without logging on to justonweb, can access the following data:
- The identification number of the judicial expert, or sworn translator, interpreter or translator-interpreter;
- Their surname;
- The language of the proceedings for which the person is working;
- Their expertise (translator, interpreter or judicial expert);
- For translators and interpreters, the source language for which they are registered;
- For the judicial expert, the expertise and specialisations for which they have been registered;
- Whether they are active or inactive, plus the date they ceased working.
In order to give individuals a certain amount of control over the data they make public, the judicial expert, or sworn translator, interpreter or translator-interpreter who is registered in the national register may also decide to authorise the publication of data such as his or her first name, contact details (e-mail, website, telephone, fax) or the judicial districts in which he or she wishes to work.
Summary
On 1 March 2023, there were 2230 judicial experts on the national register, divided into 22 major fields of expertise, themselves subdivided into multiple specialisations (the same expert may, where appropriate, have been recognised in different fields or specialisations). On the same date, there were 2664 sworn translators and/or interpreters, competent in 163 different languages.
Upcoming projects
The FPS Justice still has two major projects to work on in the coming months.
Optimisation
First, there are plans to optimise the national register as it is currently designed. The nomenclature used needs to be reviewed, as many specialisations are either irrelevant or confusing, so that many differences in interpretation are possible between the competences of several experts. Each specialisation must therefore be better defined so that magistrates know to which profile each corresponds.
Checks
Secondly, most of the individuals currently listed in the national register were registered on the basis of the transitional regime which, as already mentioned, no longer applies as of 1 December 2022. The Accreditation Commission is currently still checking whether those who are provisionally registered are eligible for registration for 6 years, which includes verification of professional aptitude. It is possible that competences that have been validated in the provisional register will no longer be validated in the coming months. Individuals who do not meet the conditions for registration will be removed from the register.
These two projects will require a great deal of commitment from everyone. However, it is clear that the new legal framework for the functions of judicial experts, and sworn translators, interpreters and translator-interpreters and its practical implementation will make a very important contribution to the quality and efficiency of our judicial system.
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