The lack of a warrant system for professional translators and interpreters meant unqualified individuals could produce sub-par work for use in official documents and court cases, staff and students at the University's Department of Translation have warned. 

In a statement decrying the existing unregulated state of affairs, members of the Department of Translation, Terminology & Interpreting Studies called for Malta to introduce an accreditation system for trained translators. 

"It is unacceptable that one of the highest institutions in Malta, and a pillar of our democracy, is resorting to people who are not qualified to act as interpreters and translators," they said.

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They added that "since the profession is not regulated, there is currently no quality control in the field. This means that any bilingual person might propose themselves as a translator or interpreter without any training whatsoever." 

Just two weeks ago, a court hearing for the 13 individuals facing charges related to the July 2015 Paqpaqli supercar crash was postponed, after lawyers for millionaire driver Paul Bailey insisted on a professional English and Maltese interpreter.

Malta's failure to accredit professional translators also put them at a disadvantage when competing with their EU peers, the University department statement noted. 

According to EU regulations, a certified translation by a warranted translator in a member state must be accepted in all other member states. But given that Malta lacks an accreditation system, while translations by warranted foreign translators were accepted in Malta, translations carried out by Maltese translations can be refused in other EU member states, they said. 

EU member states have until August 2018 to compile a list of professionals certified to translate public documents. "There has as yet been no attempt to compile such a list," the statement added.