applicable or required? 18:42 Jan 16, 2010
Johannes, I think what one needs to know is which quality logic the author is writing within and which the reader will be reading it in. My experience is with pharmaceutical QA, where every SOP will include a list of other relevant SOPs. These may or may not be explicitly referenced in the text, but they cover aspects related to the subject matter. It's perfectly clear -within the quality system- that they must also be adhered to on every point for which they contain an instruction. So the choice of word is not very critical. But if the person reading the document is not thinking within a quality framework where that is understood, I agree that "mitgeltend" needs to be explained. I wouldn't say that other documents "are" an integral part of the present document, but certainly that they "are to be treated as an integral part" of it. Perhaps it's a subject for a translator's note. It's certainly an interesting case of technical German being more concise and forceful than English ... but it's also a misunderstanding if you think that "xy applies" is wishy-washy in English. Applies means it da*n well applies - not "you can ignore it if you like". | 
The translation workplace 
