Conference of the translation services of European countries

Conference of the translation services of European countries
founding	October 1982
president	Vehbi Esgel Etensel
Members	36 Language Services
Website	www.cotsoes.org/de

The Conference of Translation Services of European States (COTSOES) English : Conference of Translation Services of European State (COTSOES) includes translation, terminology and / or interpretation of the central administrations of European countries. Its main tasks are to promote the exchange of information and experience in areas of mutual interest, to support the member services in the fields of translation (linguistics) , interpreting , terminology and language technology , and to encourage cooperation between language experts in the public service promote.

historical overview

After two preparatory meetings in 1980 in The Hague and 1981 in Bern , the conference was founded in October 1982 after the rules of procedure had been adopted. During this third meeting, which took place in Bern, the conference decided to call it the “Conference of the Translation Services of Western European States”. As a result of the accession of new states, the current name - Conference of the Translation Services of European States was decided at the Stockholm Assembly in September 1992. The composition and organization of the conference are governed by the rules of procedure, which were amended in 2008. In particular, it provides that the Assembly of the Conference meets every two years and that the chairmanship is rotating. The working languages ​​of the conference are German, English and French.

Period	Chair	Place and date of the meeting
1979-1981	Federal Chancellery , Central Language Services	Bern, June 25 and 26, 1981
1981-1982	Federal Chancellery, Central Language Services	Bern, October 18 and 19, 1982
1983-1984	Foreign Office , Language Service	Bonn, October 29 and 30, 1984
1985-1986	Ministry of Foreign Affairs , Language Service	London, September 25 and 26, 1986
1987-1988	Belgian Senate , Language Service	Brussels, 23 and 24 September 1988
1989-1990	Federal Chancellery, Central Language Services, Italian Section	Montreux, September 27 and 28, 1990
1991-1992	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Language Service	Stockholm, September 15 and 16, 1992
1993-1994	Ministry of Foreign Affairs , Translation Service	Paris, October 10th and 11th, 1994
1995-1996	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Translation Service	Oslo, September 23 and 24, 1996
1997-1998	Foreign Office, Language Service	Bonn, October 5th and 6th, 1998
1999-2000	Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor	Vienna, October 9 and 10, 2000
2001-2002	Ministry of Foreign Affairs , Translation Service	Rome, September 23 and 24, 2002
2003-2004	State Chancellery, Government Translation Service	Helsinki, September 13-14, 2004
2005-2006	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Language Service	The Hague, October 9th and 10th, 2010
2007-2008	Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation , Language Service	Madrid, October 16-17, 2008
2009-2010	Ministry of Defense, Federal Language Office	Bonn, September 30th and October 1st, 2010
2011–2012	Ministries of Economics and Finance, translation service	Paris, October 18 and 19, 2012
2013-2014	Federal Chancellery, Central Language Services, Terminology Section	Friburg, October 2nd and 3rd, 2014
2015-2016	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Language Service	Stockholm, October 17th and 18th, 2016
2017-2018	Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, Language Service

Organization of the conference

composition

The organization consists of the member services and the participating services. Observers may also attend the session of the Assembly at the invitation of the Presidency-in-Office.

• Member Services
  The number of member services per country is not limited. Currently 36 services from 17 countries have membership status. The National Center for Languages ​​of Latvia and the Central Language Services of the Federal Department of Finance of Switzerland joined KÜDES in January 2015.
• Participating Services
  The participating services can participate in the work of the conference but have no voting rights. These are the translation, terminology and / or interpreting services of the central administrations of countries outside Europe as well as of intergovernmental organizations such as the Directorate General for Translation of the European Commission. The conference currently has 4 participating services. At the last meeting of the KÜDES Assembly, which took place on October 2nd and 3rd, 2014 in Friborg / Switzerland, the Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission was present as a participating service.
• Observers
  Representatives of other services or institutions that are neither member services nor participating services may be invited by the Chair to participate in the work of an Assembly as observers. At the meeting of the Assembly on October 18 and 19, 2012 in Paris, the Office for European Integration of the Republic of Serbia, the French Society for Terminology, the Language Service of the Swiss National Assembly and the Language Service of the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs had observer status . The latter two became member services in 2013.

Member services

countries	1. Translation services
Belgium	Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation , Translation Service
	Belgian Senate , Language Service
Germany	Foreign Office , Language Service
	Federal Ministry of Finance , Language Service
	Federal Ministry of Defense, Federal Language Office
	Federal Ministry of the Interior , Language Service
	Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety , Language Service
	Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology , Language Service
	German Bundestag , language service
	Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs , Language Service
Finland	State Chancellery, Government Translation Service
France	Banque de France , translation service
	International and European Liaison Office for Social Security Issues (CLEISS), Translation Department
	Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, translation service
	Ministries of Economics and Finance, translation service
Ireland	Parliament, language service
Iceland	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Translation Service
Italy	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Language Service
Latvia	Parliament, Translation Department
	State Language Center
Netherlands	Language Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Austria	Federal Ministry of the Interior, interpreting and translation service
	National Bank of Austria
Portugal	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Legal Department, Language Service
	Ministry of Justice, General Directorate of Criminal Police, Documentation and Information Center
	Attorney General, Documentation and Information Department, Language Service
Sweden	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Language Service
Switzerland	Federal Chancellery, Central Language Services, Italian Section
	Federal Chancellery, Central Language Services, French Section
	Federal Chancellery, Central Language Services, German Section
	National Assembly, Language Service
	Parliamentary services of the Swiss Confederation, language service
	Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Language Service
Spain	Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Language Service
Turkey	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Language Service
United Kingdom	Ministry of Environment, Food and Agriculture, Language Service
	Foreign Office, Language Service

countries	2. Terminology services
France	Ministry of Culture and Communication, General Delegation for the French Language and the Languages ​​of France
Austria	Center for Translation Studies (ZTW) University of Vienna
Switzerland	Federal Chancellery, Central Language Services, Terminology Section

Participating services

countries	Participating services
European Union	Directorate-General for Translation
Canada	Government, translation agency
Netherlands	National Police Department
	Nordic Council

organs

• 1. Assembly
  The assembly convenes for an ordinary session every two years. It is composed of delegates from all member services and has the task of

• to determine the modalities of cooperation in accordance with Rule I of the Rules of Procedure;
• to adopt the recommendations of the conference;
• to decide on the formation and mandate of working groups;
• consider the reports and proposals of the working groups and membership services;
• to review the activity overview drawn up by the chair;
• to elect the chair of the conference;
• decide on cooperation with other institutions pursuing similar goals.

The assembly can meet for an extraordinary meeting either at the request of one third of the member services or on its own initiative. The assembly has a quorum with a majority of two thirds of the voting member services and the countries they represent. Each member service has only one vote. Member services that abstain from voting are deemed not to take part in the vote.

• 2. Chairmanship
  The member services present at the ordinary meeting of the assembly elect the new chairmanship for the two following years. In the 2009/2010 term of office, the Federal Language Office held the chairmanship. For the current term of office (2015-2016), the Language Service of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs chairs the conference. The tasks of the chair are:
  • to define, organize and direct the work of the Assembly;
  • distribute the reports of the four working groups and the decisions and recommendations of the assembly to the member services and to the participating services;
  • at the end of the term of office, prepare an overview of the activities of the conference;
  • To invite representatives of other services of organizations or institutions that are not member services or not participating services as observers to the work of the assembly or to agree to its invitation;
  • to archive all relevant documents of the two-year term on the KÜDES website. Until 2006 the archives were managed by the language service of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2007, the documents have been archived exclusively electronically.

Working groups

The work of the conference is essentially carried out within the working groups. The KÜDES comprises four working groups. The respective chairmen are appointed by the members of each working group from among their number. There are the following four working groups:

• New Technologies
  This working group deals with the development of computerized translation programs and can advise the member services on their use. The group conducts regular research on these programs and their use in the various services.
• Rules of procedure
  This working group examines which developments in the rules of procedure of the KÜDES are desirable and submits its proposals to the assembly, which decides on them. The group assists the chair with updating the list of KÜDES member services.
• Human resources
  This working group, originally set up to study the problems of verification, has evolved towards professional development (quality assurance, training and qualification of translators and terminologists, etc.). Since 1996 the responsibility of this working group has been more general in personnel management in the field of translation and its name has changed to “Human Resources”.
• Terminology
  This working group develops the recommendations for terminology work, which are published by the KÜDES member services and on the website of the Swiss Federal Chancellery. In addition, the group carries out specific terminology projects depending on the needs of the member services. An ongoing project is dealing with the G20 terminology.

Web links

• Official website of KÜDES
• Publications of the Conference of Translation Services of European States at Worldcat; accessed on July 23, 2015
• Anne-Marie Gendron: La terminologie au sein de l'administration fédérale suisse . (PDF) Chancellerie fédérale suisse (French)
• Mission Baquiast - Propositions sur les apports d'Internet à la modernization du fonctionnement de l'Etat (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.cotsoes.info/internalrulescotsoes
2. ↑ http://www.cotsoes.info/de/impressum
3. ↑ http://www.cotsoes.info/aboutus
4. ↑ The Federal Language Office takes over the chairmanship of KÜDES . bundessprachenamt.de, December 5, 2008; accessed on July 23, 2015