LIT Search Final Conference
The LIT Search Final Conference is the final activity of the LIT Search project.
Under the Stockholm Programme 2009 to 2013, which was adopted by the European Council and which is a roadmap for procedural safeguards in EU member states, a database of legal interpreters and translators is to be set up on the e-Justice portal. The “LIT Search” project is a pilot project to explore the modalities and practical features of such a database and eventually link up the countries participating in the pilot project.
Several countries have official registers based on admission examinations (for example Austria, Czech Republic, or Poland). The ministries of justice of these countries were invited to join the project as co-beneficiaries, as they have gathered experience in setting up and managing LIT registers. The professional associations in these countries were also invited to join the project as co-beneficiaries, as they can contribute their experience with the day-to-day operation of the official registers as well as with their own membership lists, and provide ideas about how to further develop the national registers and the EU database “LIT Search”. The independent National Register of Public Service Interpreters, United Kingdom, has also accepted to join the project as a co-beneficiary.
Other countries have less developed registers (if, for example, the registers have not been updated for some time) or regional or specific registers (Bulgaria and Spain, for example) and want to benefit from the opportunity of the pilot project to re-launch or launch national registers so that they will eventually be in compliance with Article 6 of EU Directive 2010/64.
The Dutch register of sign-language interpreters is a special contributor to the pilot project, as this is the first time that sign-language interpreters will be included in a database for legal interpreters and translators. This move is intended as a response to Article 2 (3) of EU Directive 2010/64.
In the course of the pilot project several research sub-projects (= workstreams) such as, for example, a study on current admission criteria to registers of legal interpreters and translators in EU member states, as well as admission procedures, register management, etc. are being conducted. In particular, the consortium partners describe their respective national systems governing legal interpreting and translation. The outcome of the research and the input from the presentations held at the project’s progress meetings will serve to further develop a model template to assist other countries that may want to link up to the “LIT Search” database at a later stage.
The final conference of the LIT Search project has been scheduled for 9 and 10 November 2015. It will be hosted by the project coordinator, KU Leuven, in Antwerp. On that occasion the pilot database will be demonstrated. The language of the conference is English.
Info
For further information about the project please contact Liese Katschinka (info@eulita.eu) and Veerle Verschakelen (veerle.verschakelen@kuleuven.be).
Programme
The preliminary programme is available at the EULITA and the KU Leuven websites: http://eulita.eu and https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/litsearch/.
Registration
The conference is open to legal practitioners, legal translators and legal interpreters, as well as their trainers. The early bird registration fee is €50. After 31 August 2015, the registration fee will be €75. The deadline for registration is 1 October 2014 (https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/litsearch/registration).