Sworn

If specifically requested by the client, Buroservice also does sworn translations at the Court of Milan. A sworn translation is generally needed when financial statements or other official documents have to be filed or when a company wants to take part in an international tender.

It involves binding together the original printed document, the translation and a special certificate, where the translator swears "to have carried out the work properly and faithfully, having no other purpose than to convey the truth"; in other words, the translator declares under oath before the clerk of court that the translated text complies in every respect with the attached original. Duty stamps are then applied to the bound document every 100 lines of translation. Each duty stamp currently (2014) costs Euro 16.00.

This swearing of a document at the court can generally be done within the space of a day.

In certain cases, such as for official documents that have to be sent and/or filed abroad, the sworn translation may also have to be "legalised" (i.e. authenticated or notarised). This means delivering the sworn translation to another part of the court which authenticates the clerk of court's signature on the document. Depending on the country where the translation has to be sent, this process may be called "legalisation" or "apostille". The legalisation / apostille procedure cannot be carried out in a day, as the document has to be delivered to the authentication office and then picked up three days later.