A draft law would compel translators to obtain a licence from the Ministry of Justice and pass a certification test.

However, courtroom translators would be exempt.

The FNC’s legal and legislative affairs committee this week amended the bill to ensure all translation and interpretation is performed by skilled, qualified individuals, officials said.

The bill also requires translation companies to obtain an operating permit from their emirate and to have insurance. The measures are to go into effect sometime in 2012, officials said.

“The insurance will protect the firm and the translators against things like lost documents and so on; this is a responsibility,” said the committee chairman Ahmed Al Zaabi (Sharjah, appointed). “This was not a requirement previously.”

The bill, consisting of 39 articles, would replace a patchwork of regulations that varied among emirates. Translators who are not registered within a year of the bill’s passage would be barred from practising.

Mr Al Zaabi said there would be no exemption for translators who are already registered and licenced with the Ministry of Justice.

“We have just tightened the rules,” he said. “And with the new law both parties will be protected.”

The committee’s secretary, Musbih Al Kitbi (Sharjah, elected), said “the profession is not well-ordered, but this law puts it all into shape”.

Though he could not provide details, he said some areas of the law would be relaxed for Emiratis. Read more.

See: The National