La interpretación judicial en España en un momento de cambio

The publication in the European Union of Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings has been a turning point in a great number of aspects related to court and police interpretation. The main objective of the Directive is to ensure quality legal interpretation throughout the process, as part of the right to defence and to a fair trial. Spain, as a Member State of the EU, has the obligation to transpose this European Directive into its domestic law. Therefore, this is a historic moment in which two main factors converge: the need to change the legislation to bring it in line with the new Directive and the need to implement measures to ensure compliance with new mandates. This paper reviews the present state of legal interpretation in Spain from the point of view of legislation and that of service provision and analyses the measures that Spain should take to ensure that court and police interpretations are carried out with due guarantees. These measures include the training of interpreters and legal operators, the creation of accreditation systems and records, as well as the consolidation of the professional profile of interpreters.The publication in the European Union of Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings has been a turning point in a great number of aspects related to court and police interpretation. The main objective of the Directive is to ensure quality legal interpretation throughout the process, as part of the right to defence and to a fair trial. Spain, as a Member State of the EU, has the obligation to transpose this European Directive into its domestic law. Therefore, this is a historic moment in which two main factors converge: the need to change the legislation to bring it in line with the new Directive and the need to implement measures to ensure compliance with new mandates. This paper reviews the present state of legal interpretation in Spain from the point of view of legislation and that of service provision and analyses the measures that Spain should take to ensure that court and police interpretations are carried out with due guarantees. These measures include the training of interpreters and legal operators, the creation of accreditation systems and records, as well as the consolidation of the professional profile of interpreters.La publicación en la Unión Europea de la Directiva 2010/64/UE del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo, de 20 de octubre, relativa al derecho a interpretación y traducción en los procesos penales ha marcado un antes y un después en una gran cantidad de aspectos relacionados con la interpretación en sede judicial y policial. Esta norma tiene como principal objetivo garantizar la interpretación judicial de calidad durante todo el proceso, como parte del derecho a la defensa y a un juicio justo. España, como Estado Miembro de la UE, tiene la obligación de transponer la norma europea a su derecho interno. Se trata, pues, de un momento histórico en el que confluyen dos factores principales: la necesidad de cambiar la legislación para adaptarla a la nueva norma y la necesidad de implementar medidas para garantizar el cumplimiento de los nuevos mandatos. En el presente artículo se realiza una revisión del estado de la cuestión sobre la interpretación judicial en España desde el punto de vista de la legislación y de la provisión de servicios, y se analizan las medidas que debe tomar nuestro país para garantizar que la interpretación en los tribunales de justicia se lleva a cabo con las debidas garantías. Estas medidas incluyen la formación de intérpretes y de operadores judiciales, la creación de sistemas de acreditación y registros, así como la consolidación del perfil profesional de los intérpretes