What is a sworn translation?
Unlike what happens in other countries, in Italy translators are not allowed to certify the quality of their translation by means of a personal stamp or seal! In Italy The ONLY WAY is swearing the translation at a Law Court, before a “Cancelliere” (=Clerk of the Court). N.B.: The translation sworn by a so-called official translator is as legally valid as a translation done with an Embassy / Consulate and the concerned party can thus avoid taking a day off to go to Rome or Milan or any other head office of the Embassy or Consulate!
Another important rule: DOCUMENTS IN ITALIAN, only! Italian Public Officials will not sign or authenticate deeds or documents, if they are not in Italian.
This is why each and every oath taken shall include one document in Italian and oaths must not be taken on translations between two languages other than Italian, i.e. without the Italian rendering. For instance, should you have to translate from English into French, firstly you need to translate and take an oath from English into Italian and secondly go ahead with the translation and the oath from Italian into French.
When you are explicitly requested a sworn translation by a Public or Administrative Office or Body, they want to be mathematically sure that the one who did the translation was not an improvised translator, but a professional translator with specific training and skills. There is indeed a whole range of formal requirements to be satisfied with to prepare the deed the translator shall swear at the Law Court. The sort of file created is made up of three components stapled together, which will turn into one, inseparable deed after taking the oath:
1) the original document; should it be unfeasible to staple the original document to be translated to the file, the concerned party shall go to “Ufficio di Stato Civile” (=Vital Statistics Office) or “Ufficio Anagrafe” (=Registry Office) of the “Comune” (= Municipality) where he
lives and apply for the certified true copy of the original document; he shall take there:
A) the original document;
B) its photocopy, preferably a colour one;
C) one EUR 16,00 revenue
stamp;
2) the translation drawn up by meeting all the formal requirements of a sworn translation, which just a professional translator is well aware of;
3) the oath statement sheet, featuring all the translator’s data and his oath statement, whereby he swears he does give a true and faithful rendering of the text whose translation he has been entrusted with. The oath statement sheet shows both the translator’s signature and the one of the “Cancelliere” (=Clerk of the Court). The Law Court shall append linking stamps between the sheets of the file, starting from the beginning of the translation.
Translators may usually take such oaths at Law Courts just in the morning. In Pesaro, for the time being, they may go there every day from Monday to Friday, whereas with Law Courts in other cities, this service may be limited to just some days during the week.
The Law Court of Pesaro deems it wise to append one EUR 16,00 revenue stamp both on the translated text (one EUR 16,00 revenue stamp every 4 pages of the translated, double-spaced text), and on the oath statement sheet (thus regarded as two separate deeds). Typical feature in Italy: each and every Law Court does interpret the revenue stamp regulation its own way and has its own oath statement sheet! Therefore, other Law Courts might implement different regulations with reference to revenue stamps.