EN 15038

EN 15038 is a quality standard developed especially for translation services providers. The EN 15038 standard ensures the consistent quality of the service. It requires regular audits by the certification body, and if any discrepancy is found, the certification shall be revoked.

Many European translation companies have long felt the need for a reliable method of demonstrating the quality of the services they provide to their customers. Many sought ISO 9001 certification as a demonstration of their commitment to quality management systems. However, as the ISO 9001 standard does not address the sort of translation-specific processes which many translators consider important in determining quality outcomes, this standard did not become widely accepted as a "guarantee of quality" in the industry. In 2006, a quality standard, specifically written for the translation industry, EN 15038, was published by CEN, the European Committee for Standardization. This was a serious attempt to provide certification of translation-specific quality management using independent, on-site audits by recognized certification bodies. This standard is gaining acceptance worldwide and the European Union has begun including it as a benchmark in its tender specifications.

There have been a number of initiatives in Europe to create a universal quality standard that could benchmark the quality of the translation services and gain recognition through independent audit certification. This includes the Italian UNI 10574 Standard, the Austrian Önorm D 1200 and Önorm D 1201 Standards, the Dutch Taalmerk Standard and the German DIN 2345 Standard. In 1999 the EUATC (European Union of Associations of Translation Companies) saw the need to develop an industry specific quality standard. This initiative built on previous standards which had been established by some national associations of translation companies. This standard was the first European wide initiative. In 2003 the EUATC took this standard to the next level. They started working with CEN, the European standards body, in April 2003 with the aim of creating a certifiable quality process standard for translation. The public consultation period started in September 2004 and EN 15038 was published by May 2006. The EUATC is made up of national associations of translation companies throughout Europe and these national associations have been translating the standard into their own language and cooperating with their national standardisation bodies for publication and certification by independent third party auditors.

An area not covered by EN 15038 is the interpreting and service matrix. While the committee developing the standard recognised the value of including Interpretation within the scope of the standard, it was felt that managing interpreting quality would make developing the standard more difficult and it would extend the process.

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