Effective since August 2006, the new European standard EN 15038 regulates the requirements for translation services and replaces the old 2345 from 1997.

The occupation of "translator" is not a protected term, so there are only a few ways of establishing the ability of translation services. Now the provisions of the new EN 15038 standard define human and technical resources, contractual framework conditions, workflow documentation, quality and project management, and conditions for proofreading by a 'second set of eyes' .

EN 15038:2006 was developed by the European Committee for Standards (CEN) to establish and define the requirements for the provision of quality services for translation service providers (TSPs). The standard encompasses the core translation process including commissioning, translation, proofreading, review, project management, quality control, traceability, and delivery. It helps describe and define the entire service and offers a set of procedures and best practices involved in all aspects of the translation process. The EN 15038 standard is not applicable for interpretation service providers.

The EN 15038 standard aims to unify the terminology used in the translation field, define basic requirements for language service, and create a framework for the interaction between customers and service providers in terms of their rights and obligations. Additional benefits are:

• Higher client confidence.
• Continuous improvement of services.
• High-quality results thanks to well-organized workflows.
• The certification mark serves as a unique selling proposition in corporate communications.