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Standards for interpreting facilities

The Commission's interpretation department provides consultancy services on conference facilities with simultaneous interpreting booths.

Designing a conference facility

The Directorate-General for Interpretation regularly shares its knowledge with architects, builders, promoters of public and private conference rooms and convention centres.

Our specialised team checks that all meeting rooms from where our interpreters work, in Europe and abroad, are compliant with the relevant ISO standards and our specifications. 

The interpretation department can be consulted for general advice on meeting rooms, in particular how to apply the international standards in practice. It can also offer advice on integrating new technologies such as virtual meeting platforms with interpretation into an existing meeting room environment.

Interpreting booths

The Technical Compliance Team works to reinforce the standards that ensure excellent working conditions for interpreters and help provide delegates with interpretation of the highest quality.

Interpreting booths need to be soundproofed, air conditioned, well-lit, equipped with ergonomic chairs and need to offer a direct and complete view of all delegates.

ISO-standards have been established for permanent and mobile interpreting booths, as well as for conference and interpreting equipment:

  • ISO 2603:2016 – Simultaneous interpreting – Permanent booths – Requirements 
  • ISO 4043:2016 – Simultaneous interpreting – Mobile booths - Requirements 
  • ISO 20108:2017 – Simultaneous interpreting – Quality and transmission of sound and image input – Requirements
  • ISO 20109:2016 – Simultaneous interpreting – Equipment – Requirements
  • ISO 22259:2019 – Conference systems – Equipment – Requirements

 

Documents

 

18 APRIL 2023
Technical specifications for conference rooms with simultaneous interpreting
English
(494.08 KB - PDF)
Download

 

17 JANUARY 2022
Technical specifications for portable interpreting equipment
English
(192.11 KB - PDF)
Download

 

17 JANUARY 2022
Technical specifications for sign language interpreting
English
(179.55 KB - PDF)
Download

Contact

Technical Compliance Team

Name
Technical Compliance Team
Email
scic-conformatec [dot] europa [dot] eu
Phone number
+32 2 298 05 63
Postal address
Directorate General for Interpretation, European Commission, Office L107 06/DCS, 1049 Brussels, Belgium