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thelinguist.uberflip.com AUGUST/SEPTEMBER The Linguist 11 FEATURES are, perhaps, its most significant contribution. It requires that all EU countries take 'concrete measures' to ensure that the services are of sufficient quality to ensure that the suspect has knowledge of the case against them and is able to exercise their right of defence. Such measures should include 'endeavouring' to establish a register or registers of independent and appropriately qualified translators and interpreters. Suspects also have the right to challenge the quality of language assistance provided, or a decision not to provide them with an interpreter or translation. Implementing change The Directive shows promise as a blueprint for improved protection of the right to interpretation and translation across the EU, and as a tool for suspects and their lawyers to use when their rights are not upheld. As with any new legislation, however, the passing of the Directive was only the beginning of the journey. Far too often, laws remain nothing more than words on paper when inadequate efforts are made to ensure their effective implementation. National governments must take action to fulfil their obligations, but lawyers also have a crucial role in holding governments to account in national courts. Disappointingly, 18 months after the deadline for full compliance, many countries still fall short of the Directive's requirements. The Commission has issued formal notices of infringement to 13 Member States, and concerns about quality of language services remain across the EU, with the UK no exception. A number of factors contribute to the failure of national governments to implement the Directive effectively. The economic challenges should not be underestimated, but the content also presents challenges due to the latitude given to governments to interpret the requirements and choose their own approach to implementation, for example the method of assessing interpreting needs and the avenue of redress to challenge poor interpreting. In light of these challenges, Fair Trials, a criminal justice and human rights organisation based in London and Brussels, is working with the Legal Experts Advisory Panel (LEAP) – a pan-EU network of more than 140 criminal justice and human rights experts representing all 28 EU countries – to ensure national governments are held to account in relation to the implementation of the Directive, as well as other new EU laws on procedural rights. In its implementation strategy published in March, 'Towards an EU Defence Rights Movement', LEAP acknowledged the key role of lawyers in the process, in terms of contributing to national discussions about amendments to existing laws to bring them in line with the Directive, monitoring the extent to which suspects' rights are upheld, litigating before national courts when they are not, and helping to inform their colleagues about these new legislative standards. Offering guidance Fair Trials and LEAP have made significant progress not only in informing lawyers of the content of the Directive, but also in providing guidance on how it can be used effectively. This has been achieved, to a certain extent, through in-person training for lawyers across the EU. However, the initiative with the potential to reach the largest number of lawyers is the publication of online training materials, which are distributed across the EU. The toolkit on the Directive, part of a series of toolkits on the new EU laws on procedural rights that are available freely at www.fairtrials.org and accompanied by video training modules, provides an overview of its provisions, and practical guidance for lawyers on how to use the Directive. Drawing on ECHR case law and EU law principles, as well as the Directive itself, the toolkit: • Offers suggestions on how lawyers might reach their own conclusion regarding each client's interpreting needs and how they might challenge a decision not to provide interpretation • Provides guidance on how a lawyer who does not speak the client's language might determine whether the interpretation provided is of sufficient quality and how to challenge that when necessary • Highlights the problems that can arise when suspects are provided assistance in a non- native language, such as misunderstandings that may prejudice trial fairness, and provides guidance on challenging this decision and any problems that arise • Provides tactical suggestions on how to obtain translations of the evidence a client may require during the proceedings, and how to ensure that written translations, as opposed to oral translations, are the rule rather than the exception, particularly when the fairness of the proceedings so requires. To ensure that the toolkits reach as many lawyers as possible, they have been shared widely online. The European Criminal Bar Association and Lexology, the leading online legal news service, has assisted in the dissemination process, along with networks of interpreters and translators, and members of the Chartered Institute of Linguists. We hope that, over the coming year, the toolkit will be enhanced through the addition of country-specific forewords to ensure resonance across different legal cultures. While the European Commission retains ultimate responsibility for overseeing the implementation of EU legislation, it is hoped that the provision of effective and accessible training will encourage lawyers to exercise their influence in ensuring that these crucial rights are enjoyed by every suspect who requires interpretation and translation, without which their ability to enjoy a fair trial will inevitably be undermined. Far too often laws remain nothing more than words on paper when implementation is inadequate Concerns about the quality of language services remain a key concern, and the UK is no exception