ISO GROUP
ISO standards will impact on our profession, on our clients, on organisations: it’s time to join!
AIIC, as the body that represents the interests of the conference interpreting community, has an important stake regarding ISO deliberations on issues related to our field of practice. For many years, AIIC members have participated in their National Standardisation Bodies (NSB) in order to advocate the observance of our professional standards and our code of ethics which have, in turn, underpinned the basic texts of many national professional associations.
Verónica Pérez Guarnieri (Argentina), Convener of Working Group 2 “Interpretation”, Vicky Massa Bulit (AIIC), ISO Standards Coordinator and AIIC Liaison before ISO, and Haris Ghinos, Project Leader of WD 23155 “Conference Interpreting” in Ottawa, June 2019
Development of standards
Since we have been involved in the ISO GROUP, we have participated in the drafting and approval of the following standards:
Working Group 02
| 13611:2014 | Interpreting -- Guidelines for community interpreting |
| 18841:2018 | Interpreting services -- General requirements and recommendations (Project leader: Verónica Pérez Guarnieri) |
| 20228:2019 | Interpreting services — Legal interpreting – Requirements (Project leader: Liese Katschinka) |
| 20539 | Translation, interpreting and related technology — Vocabulary |
| 21998 | Healthcare interpreting — Requirements and recommendations |
| 23155 | Interpreting — Conference interpreting — Requirements and recommendations (Project leader: Haris Ghinos) |
Working Group 03
| 2603:2016 12 EN | Simultaneous interpreting — Permanent booths — Requirements |
| 4043:2016 12 EN | Simultaneous interpreting — Mobile booths — Requirements |
| 20108:2017 10 EN | Simultaneous interpreting — Quality and transmission of sound and image input — Requirements |
| 20109:2016 12 EN | Simultaneous interpreting — Equipment — Requirements |
| 22259:2019 04 EN | Conference systems – Equipment - requirements |
| 24019:2022 EN | Simultaneous interpreting delivery platforms — Requirements and recommendations |
NB – Dated standards have already completed the standardisation process and have been published. Undated numbered standards are still in the process of being discussed and reviewed.
Several AIIC members from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the US are currently involved through their NSBs in drafting and tweaking the standards under discussion. Their input is considered together with the views of other stakeholders in order to arrive at a document with the broadest possible consensus. The road towards standardisation is rather long, with it usually taking from 24 to 36 months for the initial draft to become a standard.
As a group we interact by e-mail and try to keep all our members and AIIC authorities abreast of developments regarding ISO issues.
For non-members:
The ISO standards have been purchased from ISO by AIIC, as part of the latter’s on-going efforts to keep members abreast of the latest developments in this field. The standards and its entire content is intended EXCLUSIVELY for the use of active and associate members, candidates and pre-candidates of AIIC as well as the bodies, groups, committees, networks and sectors constituting the Association.
If you are interested in purchasing the standards, please refer to the section "Resources" at the end of the page.
All practitioners of interpretation would be well advised to participate in the mirror committees of their NSBs, thus enriching the outcome of our discussions with their views and helping to make these standards more visible.
Resources
ISO standards
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