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News: Hungary Cuts Red Tape for Translators

At the beginning of this year, a new law took effect in Hungary ending the state monopoly on certified translations. Before this law was enacted, only the Hungarian Office for Translation and Attestation Ltd. (OFFI) could issue certified translations that were accepted by all courts and public administration authorities.

OFFI was established in 1869 as the Central Translation Department and became a state-owned entity in 1945. It provides attested (certified) translations, attestation of translations, attested copies of foreign language source documents and interpretation for courts, prosecutors’ offices and investigative authorities.

Now, translated documents requiring certification can be prepared by either OFFI or another qualified translation agency. Only translations prepared by qualified technical translators are allowed to be filed with the courts. The Minister of Justice oversees all technical translation and interpreting activities to maintain quality guarantees.

The Association of Professional Language Service Providers, the trade advocacy body of professional LSPs in Hungary, lobbied for this change for years and expects to see a broader set of reforms in the near future.

The competition this change will allow is expected to result in faster, cheaper and higher quality translations.

To read more, please see: Hungary Cuts Red Tape for Translators and Language Service Providers.

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