Format C:\ Dates

Dates are unavoidable, unless you’re not showering and changing your pants regularly, or you already have a Mister or Mrs. Translator in your life. Wait a second, wrong blog.

Dates are unavoidable, mostly because knowing the date is very handy and lots of people insist on putting them in their documents. As with most languagey things, different countries write dates in different ways, so in this, the first of our formatting and punctuation items, we’re going to look and see how they’re done in the English-speaking world.

Commonly, many translators overlook small details like formatting of numbers and dates, and so I see a lot of this kind of thing in PL>EN translations:

1a     Warsaw, 26.09.2005r.         
2a     London, 26 September 2005
3a     The next meeting will be held on 26 September, at 5pm.
4a      2011/02/28

5a     (Journal of Laws of 2007r. No. 223, item 1655)

Ideally, I should be seeing this:

1b     Warsaw, 26/09/2005
2b     London, 26th September 2005
3b     The next meeting will be held on the 26th of September, at 5pm.
4b     28/02/2011

5b     (Journal of Laws of 2007 No. 223, item 1655)

As with many such formatting issues, it’s fairly simple to fix them, or not do them in the first place, and perhaps this is the problem. When one’s brain is full of complex linguistic issues and solutions, something small and biedny like the difference between a full stop and a solidus      is easy to overlook. Try to remember anyway, because as I will often say here, there will be many times (if not most of the time) when you’ll only have your own checks standing between you and FAIL if a particularly edgy client or uptight agency coordinator spots an error and doesn’t like it. Here are the fixes then:

Remember to change the full stops in dates to solidii (1). Add a 'th' or 'st' as appropriate when the date is given at top of a letter or document (2). This improves the reading flow, is stylistically correct, and just sounds right. I say that because those tiny contractions are actually spoken sounds too, and if we’re writing in full, we must reproduce all the sounds of the spoken version (unless the speaker was choking on a biscuit at the time).

In full sentences, where a date is specified, we must write the date out as fully as possible, using ‘the’, ‘of’ and the speaker’s th or st after the number. (3) If you’re writing for American readers, you can leave it all out though as our trans-Atlantic friends are not as fussy as the Brits about such niceties.

Again, this is okay for American English, but British English puts the date in ascending order – day, month, year (4). This is a small point which is actually part of a much larger and more interesting topic, that of when and where to use US or UK English. We’ll come to that in a later article, but for now my basic advice is to use the UK date order if you’re writing for Australians, Brits or Europeans. Not sure about Canadians, they may or may not like it UK-style too. If anyone knows for sure, feel free to comment below or drop me an email.

Finally, a very specific thing – it’s all too easy to overlook the occasional r. on your years, esp. In large bodies of text or in a (Dz.U. blah blah blah) (5). Keep your head windows peeled for lurking roks!

If you can accommodate any of this advice in your translating routine, it will soon become second nature and will be one less thing for moaning, un-datable people to cry about, and one more thing guaranteeing you a few more pennies for your work. And that’s no bad thing is it?

TV Programme on the European Court

Following the controversy in the United Kingdom on the Court's judgments on voting rights for prisoners, the BBC programme 'The Record Europe' has dedicated an episode to the European Court of Human Rights. It explains the controversy and the role and functioning of the Court. You can watch it on youtube (in two parts) here and here. This is the programme's own announcement:

The Record Europe has been to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the institution at the centre of a storm in British politics about prisoner voting rights. Is it a model for the rest of the world, or an institution intent on expanding its reach into the territory of national parliaments and courts?

In his first broadcast interview since the furore, the court's most senior judge, Jean-Paul Costa talks to Shirin Wheeler. In Britain some have called for the UK to ignore the rulings of the Court and leave the Convention on Human Rights after the Court ruled the British blanket ban violated the convention. But Jean Paul Costa says that would be a disaster:

"The only country which denounced the convention actually was Greece in 1967 at the time of dictatorship of the Colonels....I cannot imagine even if I can understand some irritation, that UK which is a great country - I admire the UK - could be in the same situation as the Colonels in 1967".

Shirin also speaks to two ambassadors to the Council of Europe about their role in reform of the court, and deciding whether countries' responses to its rulings are adequate. She is joined by Urszula Gacek from Poland and Daryal Batibay from Turkey.
Finally, a debate is held to discuss where the powers of the court should begin and end.

HT to Ed Bates for pointing this out!

persons - people

In a nutshell, persons is being routinely used where people is the more appropriate choice. All of you do this, regardless of age, experience, training or what the weather was doing at the time.

The OED has this to say: “The words people and persons can both be used as the plural of person but they are not used in exactly the same way. People is by far the commoner of the two words and is used in most ordinary contexts: a group of people; there were only about ten people; several thousand people have been re-housed. Persons, on the other hand, tends now to be restricted to official or formal contexts, as in this vehicle is authorised to carry twenty persons; no persons admitted without a pass.”

 Now let’s look at some examples:

 Bad persons
1a The individual persons responsible are in hiding at this time.
2a He was disturbed that she’d been revealing their secrets to untrained persons.
3a Persons travelling with a child qualify for a 10% discount.
4a Even by lunchtime, several persons had already applied for the job.
5a For those persons who prefer peace and quiet, several picturesque
walking trails also start near the hotel.

Fixes!
1b Those responsible are in hiding at this time.
1b The individuals responsible are in hiding at this time.
1b The persons responsible are in hiding at this time.
2b  He was disturbed that she’d been revealing their secrets to untrained employees.
3b Passengers travelling with children qualify for a 10% discount.
4b Even by lunchtime, several people had already applied for the job.
5b For those who prefer peace and quiet, several picturesque 
walking trails also start near the hotel.

There are several ways around this problem when we’re working with anything less than direct commands and official statements. Rephrasing works well, as we can see in 1b (first example). We can just drop the offending persons altogether if context permits it (1b second example and 5b), or use a more specific synonym (2b, 3b). Or, simply, just exchange your persons for a people (4b). Note too that pretty much any of the fixes above can be applied in pretty much any situation, depending on your time and creativity.

In short – more people and less persons!

Earthquake... School Remains Closed

Regardless of what you have heard, Christchurch Schools are CLOSED until further notice, and definitely closed for the rest of the week. This edict comes directly from Civil Defence. Civil Defence controls all decision making during the National State of Emergency that currently exists. Their edict is definitive, and must be followed. If their ruling changes, we will tell you.

The Sunday Review, 27/02/2011

Ahh, Sunday. A time for rest and reflection after a busy 24 hours of hard-core raving and shape-throwing down the local meat market. When the dust has settled and the bacon has fried, it’s time to pour a hot black coffee and settle down with the ‘papers. After that, maybe a nice ramble over Hampstead Heath or, if that’s approximately 1,430 km inconvenient, a stroll around park Jordana* and a quick stop to tag the new Wisła stadium with some good old fashioned Cracovia graffiti. Or if the big breakfast and jug of coffee weren’t enough to motivate you, how about just relaxing here with me whilst we look back over the week gone by, and squint our eyes as we peer into the next seven days...

Wednesday the 23^rd of February (note the dramatic inclusion of the and of in that date; two essential items for all but the most hide-bound legalese!) was the magic day that this wonky endeavour cracked open it’s bleary little eyes and squawked ‘mama’ for the first time. A triple bill featuring a welcome letter and introduction from yours truly, plus the first of many translating ‘items’ delivered this blog kicking and screaming into the world, followed by a quickly established pattern of one translating item in the morning and a feature article in the evening (or at night, depending on how soon I can find the keys to the drinks cabinet).

Here at the Article, we foresee weekends being a little quieter content-wise, with just our Sunday review and preview and perhaps a small morsel of interest on Saturdays to distract you from the usual weekend routine of sprawdzenia and crack cocaine.

Looking ahead into our cracked and oddly lumpen crystal ball, some very exciting things are looming out of the psychic fog. Negotiations are currently under way between Uncle Proofreader and a series of very different, very interesting translators and interpreters. Interviews are being planned, guest columnists approached (stealthily, and from behind), and soon other voices will be heard on this blog. An even bigger surprise awaits the loyal reader in March, as we debut an occasional series of new and exciting columns by friends of the Article. Perhaps you’ll be one of them? As always, all of your comments and opinions will be greeted with open arms, hugs, slaps on the back and a round of grilled cheese on toast by the fireplace. It doesn’t matter if you’re a brand new translator or even a slightly soiled one – there are no stupid questions and no boring ideas here, only interesting, friendly people who share a common goal.

There are many more exciting things afoot here, so stay tuned. Competitions, interviews and our usual blend of feature articles and spotlights on common En<>Pl translating mistakes are just the tip of the raspberry-flavoured iceberg!

Have a relaxing Sunday,

Uncle Proofreader. :-)

*Dr. Henryk Jordana was a doctor, yes. But what kind? First one to post the correct answer in the comments section wins a random book from Uncle P’s library!

The Road to Translation. Part 1: Becoming a Translator

Most of you who are reading this now are already translators. Whether still in education or having had a few years’ solo flight time under your belts already, you probably don’t need to be reminded of how you got where you are now. But in times to come, other linguistically-minded people may stumble across these words, and it is largely to them that this information will be most useful.

However! Always remember, that you can never be too knowledgeable nor too experienced not to benefit from a refresher now and then. In every branch of industry and creative endeavour, it never hurts to go back to basics. So pack your bags and come with us on a multi-week journey from the end of high school to the lofty heights of freelance translating! (or as we call it, sitting at your desk in your underpants all day). And as always, we want to hear from you. How has your experience differed from the précis given here? Let us know, in the comments below!

Basic Fundaments

Know at least two languages. This is the bare minimum, however this doesn’t automatically make you a translator (or interpreter). Translating and interpreting are distinct skills that need to be learnt, after which it’s all about accumulating experience. Having a real interest in the culture of your second language is a terrific boon that will serve you extremely well as a translator or interpreter.

Back 2 Skool

There are several ways of attaining the formal education required:

 - Linguistics degrees. In Poland, a linguistics degree is the best way, especially in Warsaw at the Instytut Lingwistyki Stosowanej, where they offer MAs in translating and interpreting. You can easily find them on the web. Linguistics degrees provide specific and detailed technical and mechanical knowledge for the potential translator/interpreter.

- Philology degrees. Although less specific than linguistics in terms of translator/interpreter  skills, philology degrees offer a great deal for the potential translator/interpreter in terms of cultural knowledge and understanding. This type of knowledge can’t be underestimated, as it directly contributes a huge amount to the final quality of your translation or interpretation (particularly the latter).

- General degrees. Another route to consider is using any other sort of degree as a launchpad into translating as a specialist. For example, a biology degree can be the basis for specialising in medical translations, a degree in engineering or business can be built upon to become a specialist in translating and/or interpreting in those fields. There is always, always going to be a need for translators and interpreters in very specific fields; although some areas (like business and medicine) may be more in demand more often than others, there are really no subjects which are so marginal that with the relevant degree, some proper training and a little experience, you wouldn’t be able to pay your bills with them at the end of the month.

- Certification courses, independent schools etc.  A completely viable alternative to university training is to attend specific translator/interpreter training courses at a specialist school. For example, UNESCO or TISCHNER here in Kraków, or the Centrum Tłumaczeń in Sosnowiec, over in Katowice, which offers seasonal courses and can fully train you in the principles and techniques of translating and interpreting. If you have a general degree or some sort of gift for languages, it’s well worth considering, especially as many such schools’ final exams result in recognised national and international certification from bodies such as TEPIS etc.

Beyond education

As we said yesterday, proper translating and interpreting is more than just a degree or a bunch of certificates. I’ve know many translators who had qualifications coming out of their ears, but who could make a translation of a children’s party invitation sound like a summons to a firing squad. Long after your initial formal training and education is over, an interest in and ongoing awareness of the news, politics and cultural trends of the countries of your chosen languages, is absolutely vital, beyond any question. Knowledge of history and culture are just as important as a good vocabulary and understanding of technique. For example, look how quickly language evolves – interpreting when a World War II veteran speaks, and when a Gulf War veteran speaks, goes well beyond just knowing the military terminology.

Don’t forget your roots

Hand in hand with all that, and as our friend Piotrek pointed out here, in the race to master your target language you shouldn’t let mastery of your mother tongue fall behind!

Next week we'll be leaving full-time education and looking for our own place, so start dealing with the hangover and let's meet again in seven. In the meantime, email me or leave a comment below if you want to say something about all this. :)

Article on Pilot Judgments in EHRLR

Stuart Wallace of the University of Nottingham has published an article on the pilot judgments at the European Court in the newest issues of the European Human Rights Law Review (No. 2011) pp. 71-81. It is entitled 'Much ado about nothing? The pilot judgment procedure at the European Court of Human Rights'. This is the abstract:

The pilot judgment procedure at the European Court of Human Rights is described as an innovation in the way the court deals with cases and an effective means of combating the court's backlog. This article analyses the court's jurisprudence and procedural rules to determine whether the pilot procedure is an innovation and whether it is an effective means of achieving its goals. At the outset it should be noted that the objectives of the pilot procedure are not being questioned here, systemic human rights abuses should be eradicated wherever they arise and the court has an important role in tackling them, this article merely critiques the means adopted by the court to tackle these issues. The primary argument of this article is that the component parts of the pilot judgment procedure are not innovative and that the use of pilot judgments has the potential to damage the court on many levels by further delaying the processing of applications, politicising the
court and undermining the court's authority more generally.

currently - presently

           

The problem here is one of simple confused usage – using presently when currently is more appropriate, accurate, and correct. It’s a frequent issue that nearly all translators seem to make and so I wondered if there was some sort of answer in the Polish meaning of the word. But as far as my feeble collection of anglo-polish słwoniki are concerned, they’re both very different in Polish. If you have any ideas about this, do comment! So:

           

Bad presently  

1a      Students can presently choose from among 177 fields of study. 

2a      The second group is presently in the dining hall.           

3a      There are presently no further options available to non-subscribers.      

4a      The present situation is looking good, although there's some way to go yet.      

There are two ways we can fix this. One is to simply use ‘currently’ instead. The other is to rephrase presently into at present:          

Good currently

1b      Students can currently choose from among 177 fields of study. 

2b      At present, the second group is in the dining hall.         

3b      Currently, there are no further options available to non-subscribers.      

4b      The current situation is looking good, although there’s some way to go yet.       

You can employ these fixes in a variety of ways, as you can see above. Remember though, that at present is an opening gambit, whereas currently can be moved around as you see fit.

One last thing to note, very important. Look at 4a above. Immediately preceding a noun with present is OKAY in legal documents, contracts and so on because it does have some legal meaning. To paraphrase the OED, ‘the present document’ means ‘this document’. But in all other situations, use one of the fixes above.

Love Your TL, Love Your Bank Account

Proper translating and interpreting is more than just the transformation of words and sounds from one language to another, it’s the transformation of cultural ideas and concepts. Your formal education in translating (or philology, literature etc) is just one part of your translator training – it’s the bread and butter in your linguistic sandwich. But an interest in and ongoing awareness of the news, politics and cultural trends of the countries of your chosen languages are absolutely vital, beyond any question. Knowledge of history and culture are just as important as a good vocabulary and understanding of technique.  This is the salad, mayonnaise, tasty cheese and fresh slices of ham that make your sandwich better than the next translator’s.

Good translators know that the more interest they have in the world of their target languages, the better and more successful they can be. Like the Force, knowledge breeds confidence, and confidence leads to speed. Quicker work output of a reliably good quality leads to... more money! (unlike the Force, which usually leads to awesome lightsabre battles). You can charge whatever you like, but if your work isn’t justified by your rates, you will eventually have problems. Believe it or not, established translators have reputations that carry not only across their home towns, but through their countries and overseas too, not to mention all over the Internet.

And, of course, reputation is what gets you the big money – at the end of the day, it’s all about paying your bills. Robert Kubica doesn’t pay his bills now by having lazed his way through karting and Formula 3. He took a greater interest in honing his driving skills until he could race at the very highest level of professional motorsport (and crash into a variety of foreign churches) in a wide variety of vehicles, and so like anyone else trying to advance in a career, you must know your game. Technique and mechanical skills improve just through doing the job. But style, flair and overall quality come from your own interest in your TL culture.

So every chance you get you need to open a newspaper, turn on the radio or television, surf the Internet or read a book – and do it in your Target Languages! When you do this, you are literally making yourself a better translator. Browsing Le Monde or Der Spiegel from Empik, listening to the BBC’s streaming radio on the Internet, surfing YouTube or actually getting on a train to Berlin or Prague or Rome or visiting a country whose language you work in, is a step towards knowledge – and another step towards paying your next bill.

Let me end this by asking you, how do you stay in touch with your TL culture? Have you found any unique or interesting resources that allow you to stay up to date with your English, German, Spanish etc? Leave a comment and share the mental wealth. :) 

castings

castings is a plural noun which, in the most widely used sense, describes multiple items created from moulds, for example statuettes and busts. It has infrequent usage, but one valid example might be ‘Several castings were made of the actor’s face in order to create the zombie mask he wore in the final scenes.’

castings should not therefore be confused with the current popular usage in Polish and European media to describe casting calls made for TV programmes like Mam Talent or Po Prostu Tanćicz. Any time a film or television programme puts out an open call for actors or people to come and audition, this is a casting call. In the theatre, we say auditions instead.

Fun thing: When casting calls are put out for extras in, for example, large crowd scenes, these are referred to as cattle calls. 

Dutch Short Videos on Key ECHR Rights

A collection of short videos explaining, through the real-life cases of Dutch people, the significance of a number of key ECHR rights is available online (including the right to liberty, the freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial). The videos were developed at the occasion of a symposium organised last year in Middelburg, under the guidance of professor Barbare Oomen. Although only available in Dutch (and by that fact possibly only of interest to the Dutch and Belgian readers of this blog), they offer very accessible introductions to the practical value of the rights contained in the European Convention for citizens. You can watch them here. Recommended!

complex – complete – comprehensive

Common PL Usage*
1a) Complex Services   
2a) We provide complex building services across the industry.  
3a) We offer complex consulting services, including:     

Good EN Usage

1b) Comprehensive Services
2b) We can provide a complete range of building services…
3b) We offer a wide variety of consulting services, including:

OED Definition of ‘complex’
1c) (adj) Consisting of many different and connected parts.
2c) (adj) not easy to analyse or understand; complicated or intricate.    

           
What’s The Problem?
‘Complex' is very often mistaken for ‘complete’ or ‘comprehensive’. Compare example 2a above with the dictionary definition of ‘comprehensive’: “(adj) including or dealing with all or nearly all aspects of something”. Although this meaning bears a resemblance to the first definition of ‘complex’ (1c above), for English native speakers it's the second definition  (2c) that comes most of all to mind when reading the word – the one that is also synonymous with ‘complicated’! 

Thus, a sign on a truck saying Complex Transportation Services gives the impression that your parcels will be going on a very long journey by land, sea, air, car, truck, helicopter and possibly even space shuttle…

*This one is not unique to Polish though; I've also seen this in Korean, Russian and several other Slavic and Asiatic languages. 

What's It All About, Alfie?

In any translation process there are numerous small words, phrases and bits of punctuation that, for one reason or another, come through in the target language still smelling of the source language. These are mostly false friends (chef/szef), and literalisms (sympathetic/sympatyczny), but are also sometimes the result of simple time pressure or ingrained learning. For example, putting an unnecessary comma before ‘that’ in English, because we usually say ‘comma że’ in Polish. This results in grammar, punctuation and other technical problems in the Target Text. Another common source of trouble stems from the fact that Polish lacks the heavy contextualising of English, and often uses more words than are strictly necessary to do the job in English.

Apart from the eternal frustration of microscopic deadlines and clients who neither know nor care (or worse, think that they know better than the language professionals!), the constant, speedy evolution of vocabulary and usage is the other great culprit. Great swathes of language as it is learned in the traditional manner through schools, tutors, books and tapes etc, is out of date almost as soon as it is taught. This leads to the amusing phenomenon of non-natives of a language being able to speak it more clearly and with better understanding than some of its native speakers, because the non-native was taught the language without all the bewildering slang, loan words and learned errors that make up half a language at any given time.

Of course, with the Internet it's pretty easy to keep a tab on your target languages, but as much good information as there is, there's also three times as much crap. Particularly horrifying are the numerous ‘online dictionaries’, most of which should be avoided like the plague. The other side of that coin, though, are the user-defined sites such as the slang dictionaries. Whilst most of them describe the kind of language that would give your mother a heart attack, they can be a useful resource for modern literary translators (although as with any un-moderated user-submitted content, you should be 200% sure of what you’re taking from them).

What I want to do with this blog is describe all the most commonly occurring problems in Polish to English translations, and while not everything will be relevant to you personally, perhaps some of it will be at least helpful (not least because we’ll be looking at a lot of formatting issues common to any ST>EN translation). As I said above in the first post (yay!), we will be drawing on mixed resources, including already well-known items, my own experience of translating and proofreading in the Polish/English language pair, and anything else that comes up day by day.

One final thought for you – some of the items we’ll look at may seem obvious or unnecessary to know – surely some of this stuff is only the proofreader’s concern? But for those occasions when you know your work is going directly to the end reader with no further editing or proofing, or you know the client is a difficult one, then perhaps this will help you nail down every last detail, ‘just in case!’ 

 Lastly, although the obvious intention is to provide a concrete, 100% solid gold explanation of each item, there’s nothing that we can’t change, correct or improve if we feel that it needs doing so. Please do feel free to comment below (just click on the thing that says ‘x comments’), and we’ll bang our heads together (albeit gently if anyone’s hung over ;).

Welcome to the Bad Article!

Greetings traveller, pull up a chair and put your dogs up. Here, have some refreshments and rest a while. Allow me to introduce myself. My name's Jim and I'm an Englishman by birth (shh, don't tell anyone), although I've been living in Poland for the last eight years and I have no intention of leaving.

I work from home as a freelance proofreader and copy editor. I specialise in texts for computer and video games, as well as multimedia and technical documentation, although I’ve also ghost-written books for adults and children alike, and if I could remember even a tenth of what I’ve read, I’d probably be an expert on Polish history to rival Norman Davies. I also work mornings in a translating office in town, checking the PL>EN translations and advising, when requested, on the EN<>PL translating process. Through the office I used to run seminars on this subject too, and the notes and exercises I prepared for them partially form the basis for these blog posts. Mostly though, these blog posts are the result of a lifetime spent writing professionally, and at least ten years of working specifically with Polish translators.

At any rate, that’s pretty much me in a giant, unshaven nutshell. How about you? Please feel free to leave a comment; ask a question, raise an issue, make a point, or even – for bonus points – tell us a joke!

- Jim :-)

Transitional Jurisprudence and ECHR Book

How does the European Court of Human Rights deal with issues of transitional justice? What effect do transitions in European states have on Strasbourg case-law and how does Strasbourg jurisprudence affect transitions from authoritarian rule and protracted conflict to democracy and peace? These are some of the key issues at the core of a collaborative project between dr Michael Hamilton, associate professor connected both to the Central European University in Budapest and the Transitional Justice Institute of Ulster University, and myself. The outcome of the research project is a co-edited book entitled 'Transitional Jurisprudence and the ECHR. Justice, Politics and Rights' which will appear with Cambridge University Press this autumn. It contains a wide range of interconnected chapters on freedom of religion, protection of property, non-discrimination, situations of emergency, and on the interplay of politics on the national level and the ECHR. The book will also include comparative chapters on how the Inter-American and African human rights systems have addressed transitions. All written by experts in their respective fields. For more information on the book's contents, look on SSRN here.

A simple way for publishers to manage access to digital content

Posted by Lee Shirani, director, business product management, Google Commerce

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)

At Humboldt University in Berlin today, Eric Schmidt announced Google One Pass, a service that lets publishers set their own prices and terms for their digital content. With Google One Pass, publishers can maintain direct relationships with their customers and give readers access to digital content across websites and mobile apps.

Readers who purchase from a One Pass publisher can access their content on tablets, smartphones and websites using a single sign-on with an email and password. Importantly, the service helps publishers authenticate existing subscribers so that readers don’t have to re-subscribe in order to access their content on new devices.

With Google One Pass, publishers can customize how and when they charge for content while experimenting with different models to see what works best for them—offering subscriptions, metered access, "freemium" content or even single articles for sale from their websites or mobile apps. The service also lets publishers give existing print subscribers free (or discounted) access to digital content. We take care of the rest, including payments technology handled via Google Checkout.

Our goal is to provide an open and flexible platform that furthers our commitment to support publishers, journalism and access to quality content. Like First Click Free, Fast Flip and Living Stories, this is another initiative developed to enable publishers to promote and distribute digital content.

German publishers Axel Springer AG, Focus Online (Tomorrow Focus) and Stern.de joined Eric at Humboldt University today as some of our first Google One Pass partners. Other publishers already signed up include Media General, NouvelObs, Bonnier’s Popular Science, Prisa and Rust Communications.

Google One Pass is currently available for publishers in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. If you’re a publisher in one of these countries and want to learn more, please reach out to the Google One Pass team or submit your information on our website. For interested publishers in other countries, we’d love to hear from you too as we plan to expand to other countries in the coming months.

Two New Papers on ECHR on SSRN

In the last few weeks two new papers relating to the European Convention on Human Rights have been posted on the Social Science research Network (SSRN). Wouter P. J. Wils, connected both to the European Commission and to King's College London, has posted 'EU Antitrust Enforcement Powers and Procedural Rights and Guarantees: The Interplay Between EU Law, National Law, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and the European Convention on Human Rights'. This is the abstract:

This paper deals with the powers of the European Commission and the competition authorities of the EU Member States to enforce Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, and with the procedural rights and guarantees that circumscribe or limit these powers. It focuses in particular on the interplay between the different sources of law governing these matters: EU and national legislation, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the case-law of the EU Courts and the European Court of Human Rights.

Juan J. Garcia-Blesa of the American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina
has posted 'Transitional Exceptions to the Rule of Law in International Administrations: The Case of the OHR in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Right to Due Process'. This is the abstract:

Promotion and even direct implementation of rule of law in conflict and post-conflict societies, as defined by the UN Secretary-General in 2004-2006, have actually become core activities of the United Nations during the last decades. These tasks are occasionally entrusted to international administrations that exercise a number of legal competences in the field embodied in their international mandates. The Office of the High Representative in Bosnia has been mandated to guarantee that full compliance with the Dayton Peace Agreement is achieved, including respect for the essential elements of rule of law in this society, as a key condition for long-lasting peace. However, some of the competences of the OHR seem to go far beyond the most basic idea of rule of law. This is the case of the power to vet, dismiss and ban public officials from public life at the OHR’s discretion, in permanent and increasing tension with the due process requirements. This anomaly can be explained by the need for some transitional exceptions to the rule of law in conflict and post-conflict societies. Furthermore, suspensions are provided for in every international human rights system on the grounds of exceptional emergency situations (e.g., Articles 4 ICCPR and 15 ECHR). Notwithstanding, there seems to be a common limitation to exceptions in these human rights protection systems that require them to be temporary. After thirteen years of exceptional rule in Bosnia, could this be the time for revision? Any tentative answer would need a thorough evaluation of the political situation in Bosnia. This paper only attempts to offer some reflections on possible legal scenarios.

Alarming Rise in Requests for Interim Measures

The number of applications might be on the rise in Strasbourg, but the number of requests for interim measures has seen an even sharper increase: a rise of 4000 % in the last four years. If this were a company, the shareholders would be jubilant, but alas this rise reflects growing problems rather than profits. The majority of the requests relate to asylum and immigration matters. The steep rise prompted the Court to issue a statement addressed at states, applicants and lawyers. The statement emphasizes that the Court is not an appeals tribunal for asylum and immigration issues. This is the whole statement:

Governments, applicants and their lawyers urged to co-operate fully with European Court, following “alarming rise” in requests to suspend deportation

European Governments, applicants to the European Court of Human Rights and their lawyers are today being urged to improve co-operation with the Court, regarding requests to suspend deportation, extradition or expulsion, following a 4,000% increase in the number of such requests coming to the Court.

The Court’s President Jean-Paul Costa has issued the statement in the light of the “alarming rise” in the number of these requests (1) for interim measures, under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, to the “already over-burdened Court”. Under this rule the Court can indicate to the Government concerned any measures (such as suspending deportation) which it considers should be taken while it is examining a case.

Mr Costa reminds Governments, applicants and their lawyers of the Court’s proper but limited role in immigration matters, emphasising their respective responsibilities to "co-operate fully" with the Court. He also stresses that the Court is not an immigration appeals tribunal.

The statement reads as follows: “Between 2006 and 2010 the Court saw an increase of over 4,000 % in the number of requests it received for interim measures under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court. In 2006 the Court received 112 requests. That figure had increased to 4,786 for 2010.

In particular, between October 2010 and January 2011, the Court received around 2,500 requests for interim measures concerning return to one particular State, including 1,930 such requests against Sweden. The vast majority of those applications were incomplete, with insufficient information and documentation to permit the Court to make any proper assessment as to the risks attendant on return. In addition, in 2010, more than 2000 requests were made in respect of the United Kingdom, 400 against the Netherlands and more than 300 against France.

When there is such a large in-flow of applications, it is often not possible for the Court to contact applicants individually to ask for missing documents. Because of a lack of information about proposed dates of return, it is difficult for the Court to make a proper assessment of which applications should be given priority.

More importantly, there is a risk that the small minority of applicants who do face a genuine threat to life and limb in the country of destination will not have their cases examined in time to prevent removal.

Moreover, because of the need to process these applications as a matter of urgency, and given the limited human resources available, the Court and its Registry may be hindered in the performance of their case-processing duties under the European Convention on Human Rights.

It must be underlined that, according to its case-law and practice, the Court will only request a Member State not to deport, extradite or expel a person where, having reviewed all the relevant information, it considers that he or she faces a real risk of serious, irreversible harm if removed. An interim measure requested in this way has binding legal effect on the State concerned.

However, the Court is not an appeal tribunal from the asylum and immigration tribunals of Europe, any more than it is a court of criminal appeal in respect of criminal convictions. Where national immigration and asylum procedures carry out their own proper assessment of risk and are seen to operate fairly and with respect for human rights, the Court should only be required to intervene in truly exceptional cases.

For the Court to be able effectively to perform its proper role in this area both Governments and applicants must co-operate fully with the Court.

In particular it is essential that:

▪ applicants and their representatives respect the Practice Direction on Requests for Interim Measures. In particular, requests for interim measures should be individuated, fully reasoned, be sent with all relevant documentation including the decisions of the national authorities and courts, and be sent in good time before the expected date of removal. The widespread distribution of application forms to potential applicants is not and should not be seen as a substitute for proper legal representation in compliance with these conditions. It must be emphasised that failure to comply with the conditions set out in the Practice Direction may lead to such cases not being accepted for examination by the Court.

▪ Member States provide national remedies with suspensive effect which operate effectively and fairly, in accordance with the Court’s case-law and provide a proper and timely examination of the issue of risk. Where a lead case concerning the safety of return to a particular country of origin is pending before the national courts or the Court of Human Rights, removals to that country should be suspended. Where the Court requests a stay on removal under Rule 39, that request must be complied with.

The practice direction for lawyers can be found here (as Appendix 2)