Italy has no State register of "sworn translators" of the kind found in Germany, France or Spain. It does have precise rules establishing when a translation must be official, who may make it so and with what formalities. This page collects them, with the essence of each provision, for anyone who must submit a translated document to an authority, a notary, a court or a foreign institution.
Who is an official translator under Italian law
The notion is set by the circular of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of 15 December 1980: official translators are those who, being particularly competent in foreign languages, are able to produce a faithful version of the original text and to confer official status on it by virtue of a prior qualification, namely registration with a court register, or through a subsequent procedure, namely the oath. The same circular notes that foreign countries normally require translations by translators registered with the Register of Court-Appointed Experts kept by each Italian court.
Two routes follow: the sworn translation, where the translator takes an oath before the court clerk or a notary and the record of oath gives the translation legal effect; and the certification of accuracy issued by a translator registered with the court register, accepted by many foreign authorities and by offices that do not require an oath. Since 2024 the Ministry of Justice also keeps the national list of court experts, available on the giustizia.it portal, on which the translators of this firm are registered.
National provisions
| Source | What it provides | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Law no. 15 of 4 January 1968, art. 17 | Legalisation of signatures on documents to and from abroad; translation certified as accurate by the consular mission or by an official translator. | Original provision, now in art. 33 of Presidential Decree 445/2000. |
| Presidential Decree no. 445 of 28 December 2000, art. 33 | Documents formed abroad and to be used in Italy, written in a foreign language, must be accompanied by an Italian translation certified as accurate by the competent diplomatic or consular mission or by an official translator. | Consolidated law on administrative documentation. |
| Presidential Decree no. 396 of 3 November 2000, art. 22 | Foreign-language documents presented to the civil status officer must be accompanied by a translation certified as accurate by the consular authority, by an official translator or by an interpreter who swears before the civil status officer. | Civil status rules: births, marriages, citizenship. |
| Royal Decree no. 1238 of 9 July 1939, art. 58 | Translation certified by the consular authority or by an official translator; failing that, an interpreter appointed ex officio who confirms the translation under oath. | Historical civil status rules, repealed by Decree 396/2000, which keeps the same approach. |
| Circular of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of 15 December 1980 | Defines official translators as those who confer official status on a translation by virtue of a prior qualification, registration with a court register, or a subsequent procedure, the oath. | Official interpretation of the notion of official translator. |
| Code of Civil Procedure, arts. 122 and 123 | Italian is the language of proceedings; the court appoints interpreters and translators, who swear to perform their office faithfully. | Source of the translator's oath in civil proceedings. |
| Code of Civil Procedure, arts. 61 and 191 et seq. | The court-appointed expert assists the judge and swears to perform the task solely to make the truth known. | Basis of the registration of translators with the Register of Court-Appointed Experts. |
| Presidential Decree no. 131 of 26 April 1986, art. 11(5) | Foreign-language documents submitted for registration must be accompanied by a translation made by an expert registered with the court and sworn as accurate. | Registration tax: contracts, powers of attorney, corporate documents. |
| Law no. 89 of 16 February 1913 (Notarial Law), arts. 54 and 55 | Notarial deeds are written in Italian; where a party does not know Italian, the deed is executed with a translation or with a sworn interpreter, and the original and the translation are signed separately. | Court of Cassation, 2nd Civil Division, 16 April 2013, no. 9177: double signature required. |
| Presidential Decree no. 642 of 26 October 1972 | Stamp duty on sworn translations: one stamp per hundred lines, with the exemptions in the annexed table and in special laws. | See the stamp duty exemptions page. |
International conventions
The legalisation rules apply subject to the exemptions laid down by law or international agreements (art. 33(5) of Decree 445/2000). The conventions relevant to translating and legalising documents are the following.
| Convention | Effect |
|---|---|
| Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 | Replaces legalisation with the Apostille for public documents between signatory States; in Italy the competent authorities are the Public Prosecutor's Offices and the Prefectures. |
| London Convention of 7 June 1968 | Exempts from legalisation documents drawn up by diplomatic or consular agents of the acceding Council of Europe States. |
| Brussels Convention of 25 May 1987 | Abolishes all legalisation between the States that have implemented it: Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy and Latvia. It is the only convention that also exempts the sworn translator's signature. |
| Vienna Convention of 8 September 1976 | Multilingual extracts of civil status records, exempt from legalisation and translation between the acceding States. |
| Bilateral conventions with Germany (Rome, 1969) and Austria (Vienna, 1975) | Exemption from legalisation and Apostille for public documents from these two countries. |
| Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 | Exempts public documents on personal status from legalisation and Apostille between Member States and introduces multilingual standard forms; contracts, powers of attorney, marriage agreements and wills remain excluded. |
What this means in practice
A foreign document intended for an Italian authority requires, in this order, legalisation or an Apostille affixed in the country of origin and an Italian translation certified as accurate by an official translator, normally sworn at the court. An Italian document intended for use abroad requires a sworn translation and, unless exempt, an Apostille or legalisation on the signature of the officer who received the oath. Documents to be registered with the Revenue Agency and notarial deeds follow the special rules shown in the table and on the page devoted to notarial deeds.
The Consulate General of Italy in London, like other missions, states that it does not carry out translations or certifications of accuracy, except declarations of value for academic qualifications and the transcription of civil status records, and refers applicants to the sworn translators registered with the Italian courts: the same indication given by the 1980 circular.
The translator's liability
The oath is not a formality: by taking it the translator assumes liability, including criminal liability, for the accuracy of the text, and the record drawn up by the officer is conclusive evidence, under art. 2700 of the Civil Code, of the translator's identity, the date and the declaration made. The content of the translation remains confidential: it is not entered in any public register and cannot be consulted by third parties without a legal title.
The full texts of the provisions are available on normattiva.it; the Hague Convention and the updated list of acceding States on the website of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, hcch.net.