Strategy for 2004-2005 - Translation Centre for the Bodies of the ...

CT/CA-039/2003/02ENTHE CENTRE’S STRATEGY FOR 2004/20051. INTRODUCTIONSince the Translation Centre began operating in 1995, its workload has increased steadily,with the total number of pages translated rising to 227 783 in 2002 and 238 399 in 2003.The Translation Centre’s clients include most of the European Union institutions which havetheir own translation service, as well as the decentralised EU bodies. The institutions turn tothe Translation Centre for specific projects on the basis of bilateral cooperation arrangements(Annex 1).2. SITUATION IN 2003In recent years, the Translation Centre has achieved relative stability, characterised by thefollowing (Annex II):a) A consolidated volume of translation for the past five years of over 220 000 pages peryear. The occasional fall in demand from some clients gives no real cause for concern,because over the years, it has been offset by rising demand from other clients.b) A relatively stable workforce, around 140 staff members in total, with an annual turnover ofbetween 7% and 9%. This can be regarded as an acceptable rate that allows a balance tobe struck between a considerable accumulation of experience and know-how and therenewal required in certain posts and roles.c) A high productivity rate, which in five years has never fallen below 3 000 pages pertranslator per year, and which compares favourably with the productivity rates of thetranslation services of other EU institutions. This is in line with the Council declarationannexed to the Translation Centre’s Founding Regulation. The Centre’s policy of assigninga significant amount of its translation work to external agencies and translators has been akey factor in achieving this high productivity rate. Tasks requiring special skills arereserved for internal staff. These include revision, the translation of urgent or confidentialdocuments, compiling glossaries and other projects providing added value.

3. OUTLOOKWithin this context of relative stability for the Translation Centre, there are several factors thatmerit special attention.Externally, the decision to enlarge the European Union by 10 new Member States on1 May 2004, together with the decision to increase the number of official languages, willrequire changes in both the organisational structures and the working methods of thetranslation services of the EU institutions and, therefore, the Translation Centre.Internally, a decision was adopted by the Management Board in 2002 to implement a totalquality management plan. Following its detailed preparation in 2002, the plan began to bearfruit in May 2003, when the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) officiallyrecognised the Translation Centre’s formal commitment to adopt a systematic and coherentquality strategy. This strategy encompasses all the processes and activities of the TranslationCentre, helping it to meet the objectives set by the Management Board, which, by virtue of itscomposition, is broadly representative of the Centre’s clients.These changes call for a detailed strategy to enable the Translation Centre to adapt itsorganisational structures and working methods to the new situation. This should include theresult of measures instigated to take account of the Regulation of 18 June 2003 amending theRegulation setting up the Translation Centre. The former Regulation seeks to bring the latterinto line with the new Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the EuropeanCommunities and with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of theCouncil regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commissiondocuments.At the same time, the Centre should turn its attention again to the matter of one of theconclusions reached by its Management Board on 14 March 2002 on the basis of the Centre’sexternal evaluation report. At this meeting, the Management Board had asked the EuropeanCommission to examine the possibility of including in the Regulation setting up the TranslationCentre an amendment authorising extension of the Centre’s remit to all public bodies, bothnational and international, whose activities are of interest to the European Union. It should benoted in that regard that, in its resolution of 21 April 2004 on the discharge to be given to theDirector of the Centre in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2002(C5-0637/2003-2003/2247 (DEC)), the European Parliament ‘considers that the Translation[Centre] should be able to use any spare capacity, without prejudice to the priority toEuropean institutions, to provide services to other international organisations for a fee whichwould gradually reduce dependency on the Community budget’.There is therefore a clear need to develop these new guidelines and, to that end, the Centrewill submit a detailed proposal to the European Commission in the course of 2004.STRATEGY FOR 2004/2005 2

4. STRATEGY FOR 2004 AND 2005a) EnlargementThe enlargement scheduled for 1 May 2004 poses an unprecedented challenge for all EUinstitutions. Previous enlargements involved a maximum of two or three new Member States,but never as many as on this occasion. Nor are previous enlargements comparable inlanguage terms, because this time around, the number of official languages is set to double.However, the Translation Centre does not intend to double either the number of pages fortranslation or its staff numbers, on account of the demographic weight and infrequent use ofsome of the future official languages. Furthermore, following the contact visits to the candidatecountries, it is clear that, in some cases, the curricula for university degrees in languages arenot always geared to the type of translation required by the EU institutions. As a result, theTranslation Centre believes it will not be easy to find experienced translators for all the futurelanguages at the initial stage.The Translation Centre’s latest forecasts suggest no change in the workload for 2004compared with 2003 for the current official languages (approximately 257 500 pages, including157 000 for Community trademarks). The Centre expects approximately 82 000 additionalpages of Community trademarks and 31 000 pages of documents for the new officiallanguages as of 1 May 2004, or a total of 113 000 pages, making a grand total of 370 500pages for both current and future official languages.In order to meet this demand, in 2004 the Centre will endeavour to recruit two translators foreach new official language and two or three additional members of staff to work in supportroles in the Administration and Computer Departments and to tackle the increased difficultiesinvolved in subcontracting work to external agencies and translators.At the same time, in order to offset the difficulties anticipated in the recruitment of experiencedtranslators for some of the new languages, the Translation Centre will increase cooperationwith external agencies and translators. This could see the volume of subcontracted work risefrom 55% to 60% of the total.To facilitate the smooth integration of translators of the new official languages, the TranslationCentre has decided to assign the role of ‘tutor’ or ‘mentor’ to some of its most experiencedtranslators. Preference will be given to those translators who have attended language coursesin the relevant language and are therefore likely to have a more in-depth knowledge of therelevant culture.If the forecasts for 2004 prove correct and enlargement goes according to plan, in 2005 theTranslation Centre will be able to consolidate and secure the progress it has achieved to date.That is why, as things currently stand, the Centre does not expect any increase in the volumeof pages for translation, although in 2005, the effects of enlargement will be felt over 12 ratherthan eight months. For that reason, one or two additional translators will be required for eachteam working in the new languages, and one additional translator will be required for each ofthe teams working in the older languages with the heaviest workload (probably French,English and German). It is also expected that two additional members of staff will be requiredfor the Administration and Computer Departments.b) Total quality planOnce the analysis of the Centre’s key processes has been completed and areas forimprovement have been identified, the Translation Centre will begin, probably in 2004, todevise and compile a manual containing the documentation required to optimise managementSTRATEGY FOR 2004/2005 3

of the most important work processes, specifying all necessary information for all thoseinvolved in internal or external work processes.At the same time, a monitoring system will be required in order to detect, identify and, ifpossible, resolve any problems that arise, and at the same time measure and assess theperformance of the relevant processes. The purpose of the system will be to ensure theoptimum working of each process.In order to apply this strategy consistently and achieve sustainable improvements in thequality of its services, management staff will be required to participate at some stage intraining courses enabling them to improve certain aspects of their work, such as leadershipand conflict management skills, staff motivation, and so on.At a later stage – probably the end of 2004 – the Translation Centre will evaluate its overallperformance according to the principles set out in the EFQM model. To that end, it will carryout satisfaction surveys among its clients and staff. The findings of these surveys, dulyevaluated, will provide the basis for new plans for improvement specifically earmarked to therelevant fields of activity, in line with the views of respondents.Judging by the description of this plan, it is clear that this will require the active participationand collaboration of both clients and staff. The Quality Management Section will beresponsible for coordinating activities, evaluating the findings in a consistent manner andadvising all internal and external participants in this total quality plan.Under the plan, the Translation Centre does not intend to distinguish between the way currentand future official languages are handled. However, differences in grade and experiencebetween current and future staff members may mean that heads of sections and departments,as well as the Quality Management Section, will need to pay greater attention to, andsupervise more closely, the future official languages to ensure they are properly integrated.c) Projects underway with partnersThe ’Inter Active Terminology for Europe‘ project (IATE) for the creation of a singleterminology database for all institutions and agencies of the European Union, which wasinitiated by the Translator Centre in 1999, will reach its operational phase in 2004. TheTranslation Centre will manage the database on behalf of the participating services. A‘Support and Development Team’, comprising three members (a project manager, databaseadministrator and web developer) was set up at the Centre to handle the day-to-daymaintenance of the system. It is foreseen that the team will continue in this compositionthroughout 2004 and 2005. However, requirements by the project partners could lead to theaddition of another developer during this period.One of the major objectives of the IATE project is to increase the efficiency of terminologywork in the EU’s translation services. Communication between services is a key factor inachieving this goal. Management of IATE will thus be accompanied by two interinstitutionalworking groups, one dealing with technical issues and another handling questions relating tothe content of the database. The technical group will ensure that the performance andfunctionality of the IATE database satisfy user needs. The second group will play an essentialrole in the coordination of work on the terminological resources for the languages of the newEU Member States and the consolidation of the terminological legacy. Work on theseimportant tasks will start in 2004 and continue throughout 2005.IATE will also have a major impact on the organisation of terminology work at the Centre.Internal linguistic staff will have to get acquainted with new ways of creating and managingterminological data in 2004. When searching for terminology, they will benefit from the factthat all data available in the EU can be accessed via a single user interface. However, IATEcan also change the way the Centre cooperates with the decentralised agencies. JointSTRATEGY FOR 2004/2005 4

terminology projects, such as those between the Centre and EFIL or EEA in the past, couldbenefit from the fact that IATE will be open to the EU agencies and the national authorities.Cooperation, especially the validation of terminology by national experts, could thus besimplified considerably.5. CONCLUSIONSSince its inception in 1995, the Translation Centre has done its utmost to offer its clients asfully comprehensive a translation service as possible, with a level of quality comparable to thatof the translation services of other EU institutions and at considerably lower prices.The forthcoming enlargement of the European Union, which will see the number of officiallanguages double, poses both a challenge and the risk of over-complicating the managementof the Translation Centre and increasing operational costs considerably.To overcome these risks and safeguard both the level of service provided and the pricescharged to clients in 2004 and 2005, the Centre will implement the measures referred to inpoint 4 of this document, which may be summarised as follows:a) The gradual integration of the new official languages from 1 May 2004 through therecruitment of one or two translators per language and the conclusion of freelancecontracts with agencies and individual translators translating into these new languageswho can provide reasonable guarantees of experience and professionalism.b) The introduction of a total quality plan involving both clients and staff aimed at the ongoingimprovement of work and management processes, in accordance with the principles andmethodology established by the EFQM.c) On the basis of experience acquired in 2004, in 2005 the Centre will enlarge thosetranslation teams with the heaviest workload and implement the adjustment measuresrequired under the total quality plan.ANNEXESIII KEY FIGURES OF THE TRANSLATION CENTRE 1999-2005LIST OF AGENCIES AND INSTITUTIONS WHICH ARE CLIENTS OF THE TRANSLATION CENTRESTRATEGY FOR 2004/2005 5

ANNEX IDECENTRALISED BODIESEuropean Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions / EurofoundEuropean Centre for the Development of Vocational Training / CedefopEuropean Environment Agency / EEAEuropean Training Foundation / ETFEuropean Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction / EMCDDAEuropean Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products / EMEAOffice for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) / OHIMEuropean Agency for Safety and Health at Work / EU-OSHACommunity Plant Variety Office / CPVOEuropean Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia / EUMCEuropean Agency for Reconstruction / EAREuropean Food Safety Authority / EFSAEuropean Police Office / EuropolEuropean body for the enhancement of judicial co-operation / EurojustEuropean Maritime Safety Agency / EMSA ∗European Aviation Safety Agency / EASA *INSTITUTIONS/BODIESEuropean Central Bank / ECBEuropean Investment Bank / EIBEuropean Commission – DG Energy and Transport / TRENEuropean Commission – DG Translation / DGTEuropean Commission – DG Employment and Social Affairs / EMPLEuropean Commission – DG Enlargement / ELARGCommittee of the Regions / CORCouncil of the European Union / CouncilEuropean Court of Justice / ECJEuropean Court of Auditors / ECA∗ Newly created bodySTRATEGY FOR 2004/2005 6

KEY FIGURES OF THE TRANSLATION CENTREANNEX II1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 (1) 2005 (1)Translation volume(pages) (2) 221 027 257 683 283 005 222 959 234 620 370 500 385 500Proportion of pagestranslated bysubcontractors (3)100 652(44.9%)121 033(46.9%)124 808(44.1%)86 826(38.9%)94 355(40.2%)197 100(53.2%)204 000(52.9%)Total number of staff124 130 139 141 147 181 181Number of translators68 70 71 64 70 95 95Productivity per staffmember (pages) 1 782 1 982 2 036 1 581 1 596 2 047 2 130Productivity pertranslator (pages) 3 250 3 681 3 986 3 483 3 352 3 900 4 058Price per pagetranslated, in EUR(normal deadline) (4)74 (5) 76 (5) 77 (5) 78 (5) 77.5 (5) 79 (5) 80.5 (5)(1) Forecasts(2) These figures do not include pages translated for the purposes of the Translation Centre’s ManagementBoard.(3) Excluding revision.(4) There are three types of deadline for translations at the Translation Centre: normal, scheduled and urgentdeadlines.(5) Source : Translation Centre budgetSTRATEGY FOR 2004/2005 7