Part I: Relationship with the clients and the users of translation services:
1.1. The translator/interpreter ensures that the client’s requirements are met with the necessary quality and speed of service.
1.2. The translator informs the client about possible risks which could occur as a result of poor quality of the original document or in case the client did not provide a contact person to consult with about specific terms, and, for oral interpretation – in case materials were not provided in advance, in case of non-compliance with the professional standards for having 2 interpreters or poor quality of technical provision.
1.3. The translator/interpreter informs the client duly about all obstacles that might have occurred during the work process affecting the quality of the assignment and its timely submission.
1.4. The translator/interpreter negotiates the price for performing the translation service depending on the complexity and deadline for the assignment. For each assignment a preliminary agreement should be reached by signing a contract.
1.5. In case a translator/interpreter cannot take up an assignment, he/she directs the client to colleagues who can perform the assignment properly and competently, providing their telephone number and address.
1.6. The translator/interpreter shall follow strictly the client’s requirements concerning confidentiality of information which will become known to him/her during the process of translation. The client’s requirements are received at the time of concluding the contract. In case such a clause is missing in the contract, the translator/interpreter shall in no case take advantage of such information to the detriment of the client.
1.7. The translator/interpreter shall put effort to preserve the good name of the client and should not speak ill of the client in front of the client’s competitors, in front of the mass media, etc.
Part II: Relations among the translators/interpreters:
2.1. The translator/interpreter should put effort for keeping the good name of the translator’s/ interpreter’s profession in front of clients, mass media, state authorities, professional organizations, etc., by acting in the best interest of the profession.
2.2. No matter whether they know their colleagues or have not met them before, translators should help their colleagues when performing professional translation activities, without publicly damaging the reputation of the profession by criticizing openly.
2.3. The translator/interpreter should notify their colleagues about any problems that have occurred in the course of an assignment, when similar problems could potentially occur with other colleagues as well.
2.4. When a translator/interpreter receives a subsequent assignment from a client with whom he/she has established contact via another colleague, the translator/interpreter should inform the colleague.
2.5. The translator/interpreter should not use with ill and self-serving intentions the results of other colleagues’ work.
2.6. The members of the Association of Translators and Interpreters take the obligation to comply with the association’s mandatory rules and should make the best effort to comply with its recommendations by striving to make public the Association’s standards to all participants on the translation market.
2.7. In case of breach of any of the above mentioned rules of ethics, and upon receiving a signal from a member of the Association or a client, the Management Board shall create an ad hoc arbitration group of three, consisting of: one person, appointed by the Management Board, one person, chosen by the translator/interpreter against whom the claim has been made, and one person, appointed by the Auditing Board.
11 April 2009
Sofia
