SATC Holds Annual General Meeting

Presenting the annual report, Chairman David Lythgoe noted that the association had succeeded in meeting its first annual membership target of ten members, with several further companies interested in membership. SATC has also been accepted as a member of EUATC, the European Union of Associations of Translation Companies, which assesses and approves one member association in each country.

Members dealt especially with planning activities for the coming year to promote the cause of quality in translation, establishing a number of working groups in subjects such as cooperation with universities (translation education, internships, etc.), court translators, seminars and conferences, public procurement and IT technology in translation.

Concern was expressed at the insufficient number of approved court translators for certain language combinations and the lack of transparent criteria and procedure to qualify as a court translator. A modern market system would allow anyone who fulfills a clear set of criteria to be certified, and many European countries are moving in this direction in the spirit of the EU single market, to which Serbia aspires.

The issue was also raised of quality criteria in procurement that can avoid institutions receiving unacceptably poor translation following an exclusive focus on price as a procurement criterion. It was pointed put that in many countries, similar national associations are working together with government procurement agencies to develop procedures that can assure reasonable quality while maintaining fully competitive procurement. One problem in Serbia is that many public tenders, including translation tenders, are classed as 'low-value' procurement, and are thus treated as unimportant by procurement officers in contrast to the crucial role that good or bad translation can play in both the private and public sectors.

The meeting was held at the premises of HR Centar in Resavska, who supported SATC by contributing the space and refreshments.