The rule
The European e-Justice Portal puts it plainly: “If the authorities of the receiving EU country require a certified translation of the public document presented by the citizen, they must accept a certified translation made in any EU country.”
That is an obligation on the receiving authority, not a recommendation. A translation certified by a qualified translator in one member state cannot be refused in the other 26 simply because of where it was made.
What the Regulation covers — and what it does not
The scope is limited to public documents in certain areas. The portal lists among others:
- Birth, and the fact that a person is alive.
- Death.
- Marriage, including capacity to marry and marital status.
- Registered partnership.
- Domicile and/or residence.
- Absence of a criminal record.
University diplomas and other education documents are not on that list, so the Regulation does not cover them.
The line that is often missed
One sentence deserves particular attention: “The Regulation deals with the authenticity of public documents but not with the recognition of their legal effects in another EU country.”
Authenticity, not consequences. Whether a partnership registered abroad produces the same effects in the destination country is still governed by national law. If you advise clients, keep that distinction clean — it is the point where confident answers go wrong.
What else the Regulation abolishes
- The apostille: documents from an EU country “must be accepted as authentic ... without the need of an authenticity stamp”.
- The duty to supply an original and a certified copy at the same time; a certified copy made in the issuing country must be accepted.
- The translation itself — where a multilingual standard form is attached, a translation may be required only “in exceptional circumstances”.
That last point is the uncomfortable one for our profession: in simple cases the form replaces the job. It is still worth saying so to the client. Trust outlasts a single invoice.
What this means in practice
If your translation is rejected in another member state on the ground that it “was not made here”, that reasoning does not hold within the scope of the Regulation. Pointing the client to the rule and its source usually helps more than producing a second translation.
Outside that scope — diplomas, for instance — it does not apply.
Where Lingverra fits in
Lingverra knows the country profiles and places your own certification wording under the finished translation, in the form that applies where you are sworn. The routine work runs automatically; the certification stays yours.