EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Directorate-General for Translation

The Acting Director-General

DG Translation
Management Plan 2011
(Policy area 31 ‘Language Services’)

Date: 22 December 2010

 DG Translation — MANAGEMENT PLAN 2011

Table of contents

1. Mission Statement ......................................................................................................................................3

2. The challenges for 2011 ............................................................................................................................4
3. Activity ‘Translation’....................................................................................................................................5
Objective T1 – Deliver high-quality and efficient translation services ...............................................................................5
Objective T2 – Enhance written multilingual communication .........................................................................................6
4. Activity ‘Policy strategy and coordination’ ..................................................................................................................... 7
Objective P1 – Effectively match demand and supply..................................................................................................7
Objective P2 – Promote the role of translation in a multilingual Europe............................................................................8
Objective P3 – Enhance interinstitutional and international cooperation in the field of translation and terminology......................9
5. Activity ‘Administrative support’ ..............................................................................................................10
Objective S – Provide the administrative support to ensure the functioning of the Directorate-General ..................................10
Objective L – Ensure sound financial management as well as legality and regularity of underlying transactions ......................11
Glossary...................................................................................................................................................................12

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DGT - MP 2011

1. Mission Statement
We provide the European Commission with high-quality translation and other language services.
Our job is to respect the European Union’s multilingual character by making sure the
Commission produces clearly written documents in all the official languages, and in others as
well.
Multilingualism is one of the basic principles of the European Union, guaranteeing cultural and linguistic diversity. DGT is one
of the world’s major centres of linguistic expertise, making us a valuable asset to our partners in Europe and beyond.

Our core business is translation — rendering a text written in one language in a different language while preserving the
content and meaning of the original. We also provide other language services. For example, we edit documents to make
them clearer, we check for correct terminology and we offer linguistic advice. We support the training of future linguists in
universities and we are active in developing new translation technologies. We also translate website material and, through our
staff located throughout the Member States, tailor information to meet the needs of people there.

Our immediate customers are the Commission and its departments, helping them to put forward clear legislative and policy
proposals in all the official languages. By making this information available to people in a language they understand, we help
make the EU more open, accountable and democratic. The right to use any official language of the EU when dealing with
the European institutions ensures equal treatment for all. This underpins the EU’s legitimacy and helps ensure that its citizens
can enjoy their rights to the full.

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2. The challenges for 2011

2010 was characterised by growing demand for translation as the Commission stepped up its pace of work. In the interests of
customer service, and to optimise its overall translation capacity, DGT adopted flexibility measures, making certain
exceptions to the principles of the Translation Strategy, and focusing on the strategic initiatives in the Commission Work
Programme. In 2011 DGT will formalise this flexibility by formulating objective criteria and laying down improved planning
methods. DGT will continue to provide the European Commission with high-quality and efficient translation and other
language-related services for its written communication in all official languages.

The Lisbon Treaty will bring about important changes on nearly all DGT's active fronts. The extended scope of the co-
decision procedure and the new role and responsibilities of national parliaments will require increased cooperation between
the Commission, the other European Institutions, the Member States and other stakeholders. In addition, DGT will be doing
translation work for the new European External Action Service under a specific Service Level Agreement.

The quality of documents is important both for the Commission’s image and for efficient translation. DGT’s editing unit helps
Commission authors to produce texts that are clear enough to be understood by the target audience or to be translated into
other languages. The Clear Writing Campaign, launched in 2010 at the initiative of DGT, aims to bring about a major and
sustainable change in the way the Commission drafts, edits and produces its documents. Structural measures at Commission
level are expected to be taken in 2011. Moreover, by doing more to promote sustainable language regimes and establish
priorities for web translation, DGT will support the Commission’s Internet strategy and help to ensure that citizens and
stakeholders are able to enjoy their rights.

Anticipating and addressing the challenges ahead and the evolving needs of the Commission, DGT will continue to build up its
capacity by recruiting permanent staff, strengthening the linguistic, thematic and technological skills of its staff and making
systematic use of external resources. Drawing on its experience from the 2004 and 2007 enlargements, DGT is preparing to
cope with one more official language, when Croatia joins the European Union. The special arrangements for Irish will
gradually come to an end, and steps will have to be taken to recruit enough professionally trained translators for Irish.

Determined to keep pace with ever faster technological developments, DGT will in 2011 introduce the latest generation of its
main computer-assisted translation tool and test the newest machine translation software solutions in combination with the
exceptional language resources it can draw on in-house. This project is one of the flagship initiatives under the e-Commission
strategy.

DGT will continue to contribute to language learning as a key feature of the Commission’s multilingualism policy. Activities
organised every year in each of the Member States for the European Day of Languages and the Juvenes Translatores
initiative will continue. While these projects raise people's awareness of what translation is all about, the European Master’s in
Translation is concerned with enhancing standards of translator training in the EU, and with helping to create a truly European
market for skilled translators.

Signed: Piet VERLEYSEN

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3. Activity ‘Translation’
DGT enables the Commission to fulfil its political and legal obligations to prepare and monitor legislation in all official
languages, and to communicate in the citizens’ various languages.

T1 Objective T1 – Deliver high-quality and efficient translation services

A high-quality translation service is of the utmost importance for the legal certainty of the Commission’s regulatory action, written
communication and the legitimacy of the Commission’s work. The objectives of quality and efficiency must be addressed throughout the
translation process. This requires proactive interaction with the requesting services and stakeholders and necessitates effective total
workflow management.

Quality and efficiency depends in particular on:

• the efficient use of resources

• the appropriate application of quality control and assurance measures

• a regular and meaningful customer feedback system.

To make the translation process more efficient, DGT has developed a range of services comprising a coordinated approach to
terminological work, the acquisition of paper and electronic resources, a multilingual reference library and the re-use of past translations
stored in translation memories (pre-processing). Further to this, DGT has started to develop a new machine translation service for the
Commission which will, by 2013, cover all official languages and should enable the Commission to meet any multilingual communication
needs that are not yet satisfied.
DGT is committed to the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM). In 2011 TQM activities will include work in the following areas:
establishing a comprehensive customer feedback management system, and developing a concept for exchanging all the knowledge,
good practices and innovative approaches that have been developed all over DGT.

 Result Indicators Target at XI 10

1. Deadline compliance (percentage of translation requests for which all linguistic versions 95 % 95.6 %
have been delivered on time)

2. Rate of quality control 1 x ≥ 70 % 85.6 %

3. Percentage of external translations rated good or better x > [2010] 89.8 %

4. Satisfaction rate with DGT services2 x > [2009] 92 %3

5. Number of movements in the interinstitutional terminology database IATE 190 000 168 836

 Outputs
♦ Total production (official EU languages)

♦ Total production (other than official EU languages)

 Financial Information  Budget

1. External translation budget 14 250 000 €
2. Library acquisitions 638 000 €
3. Multilingual tools and databases (terminology) 80 000 €

1
Concerns only QC1 documents.

2
The next DGT customer satisfaction survey will be done in 2011 with results in 2012.
3
Result of the 2009 survey.

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T2 Objective T2 – Enhance written multilingual communication

DGT supports the Commission in communicating Europe by processing multilingual websites and providing such language-related
services as localisation, editing and linguistic advice.

By editing and translating Commission priority pages for the Europa website in all the official languages, DGT promotes the
Commission’s policy for better communication with EU citizens and stakeholders and strengthens its multilingual presence on the
Internet.

Through its Field Offices for translation (FOs) within the Member States, DGT focuses on clear and comprehensible communication
with EU citizens by localising messages, i.e. adapting them to the specific political, social and cultural context.

DGT advises the Commission on linguistic issues and provides support by drafting, shortening and standardising texts, in particular
for documents drafted in English and French. In line with the report arising from the Clear Writing Campaign, the Commission is
expected in 2011 to take structural measures to modify its document drafting and production workflow.

 Result Indicators Target at XI 10

1. Web translation deadline compliance 95 % 62.7 %

2. Editing deadline compliance (percentage of editing requests for which the edited 100 %
document has been delivered on time) 99.9 %

3. Proportion out of all text translated for the web which have undergone quality
95 % 74.9 %
control

 Outputs
♦ Number of pages processed for the web

♦ Number of documents processed at Field Offices

♦ Number of pages edited by the Editing Unit

 Financial Information
No budget

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 DGT - MP 2011

4. Activity ‘Policy strategy and coordination’

This activity underpins the work of formulating, preparing and implementing policy so as to achieve the overall mission of the
Directorate-General. It promotes strategic planning within the service and regular and efficient communication with DGT’s
partners and stakeholders inside and outside the institution.

P1 Objective P1 – Effectively match demand and supply

DGT acts as the Commission’s translation ‘hub’. The translation strategy and in particular its demand management component, in
force since 2004 and last updated in 2007, has enabled the Commission to meet its obligations in the field of translation. It makes it
possible for DGT to concentrate its resources on translating core4 documents, while allowing some margin of flexibility when
justified. The Lisbon Treaty and the creation of the EEAS are likely to increase the need for translation, which may lead to the
Translation Strategy being adjusted accordingly. Against the background of limited resources, the flexibility measures introduced in
2010 will be structured to give the best possible response to the political priorities of the Commission and the requirements of the
Lisbon Treaty.
DGT will continue to conclude Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with Commission Directorates-General and honour the
commitments in those already signed. In 2011 one particularly important SLA will be signed with the EEAS. SLAs enable DGT to
optimise the demand management of documents not included in the translation strategy.

 Result Indicators Target at XI 10

1. Service level agreement signed with EEAS yes n/a

2. Commission Communication (translation strategy, machine translation, clear writing) yes n/a

 Outputs
♦ Number of Service Level Agreements signed or renewed with requester DGs

♦ Number of pages produced according to Service Level Agreement (Annexes 8A and 8B)5

 Financial Information
No budget

4 Core documents: legislative and political documents, and communication priorities (s. SEC(2006)1489/4).

5
Annex 8A: List of translations not included in the general framework established by Communication SEC(2006) 1489, but which
DGT undertakes to provide by integrating them into the normal translation workflow.

Annex 8B: List of translations not included in the general framework established by Communication SEC(2006) 1489, which DGT
will outsource, reinvoicing DG XY.

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P2 Objective P2 – Promote the role of translation in a multilingual Europe

DGT contributes to the Commission’s efforts to promote multilingualism. It conducts studies on translation and multilingualism to
foster evidence-based policymaking and to promote new language technologies. It takes targeted action to raise awareness of the
importance of language learning and its role in helping people understand each other.
DGT develops and maintains contacts with the translation industry, translation professions and national institutions and
organisations in charge of translation. It builds networks with universities in the EU to set minimum standards for a high-quality
master’s-level training for translators and to foster cooperation and exchange of best practices. This helps the translation
profession and its market to develop. DGT also manages contacts with secondary schools in the EU through the Juvenes
Translatores contest to promote foreign language usage in Europe, and the particular art of translation.

 Result Indicators Target at XI 10

1. Number of EU Member States represented in the EMT network 27 24

2. Number of EU Member States where the European Day of Languages is organised 27 26

3. Number of applications in the Juvenes Translatores competition x ≥ [2010] 1602

 Outputs
♦ Number of information events to support the recruitment of highly-qualified staff

♦ Number of new studies on translation and multilingualism

 Financial Information  Budget

1. Conferences and internal meetings 227 312 €
2. Studies 120 000 €
(hors quota) (60.000 €)
3. External meetings 90 925 €

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P3 Objective P3 – Enhance interinstitutional and international cooperation in the field of

translation and terminology
DGT contributes to the work of the Interinstitutional Committee on Translation and Interpretation (ICTI). DGT manages a number
of ICT tools which are available to the other institutions and, partly, to the public. DGT strives to improve cost-efficiency in
translation by way of increased cooperation with other institutions.

DGT participates in a wide area of international activities to share best practices and to develop multilingual terminology and
technology. It also promotes staff exchanges and training to strengthen the translation profession.

 Result Indicators Target at XI 10

1. Finalising and testing the Key Interinstitutional Activity and Performance Indicators Yes n/a

2. Define an interinstitutional AST3 profile for translation services Yes n/a

3. Signing a new CAT tool contract following an interinstitutional call for tenders Yes n/a

 Outputs
♦ Number of staff members on exchange in other institutions and international organisations

♦ Number of joint training actions

♦ Number of terminological agreement managed

♦ Number of international stakeholders with whom DGT cooperates

 Financial Information  Budget

Interinstitutional cooperation 493 000 €

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5. Activity ‘Administrative support’

This activity covers the work of DGT’s services which manage human resources, provide information and communication
technologies, handle document administration and logistics, and carry out internal audit and internal control.

S Objective S – Provide the administrative support to ensure the functioning of the Directorate-
General
Skilled staff are the key to quality. It is the job of human resources management to guarantee an appropriate staffing level in DGT’s
administrative entities. It devises translator’s profiles for EPSO competitions to ensure that the recruitment of staff proceeds efficiently.
Human resources also provide subject-related, language and ICT training to fill any current or future skills gaps. An annual Learning
and Development Framework (LDF) for DGT, supplementing the Commission’s Learning and Development Framework, sets out the
strategy for boosting the professional and personal development of DGT staff.

An efficient, reliable and user-friendly ICT (Information and Communication Technology) environment is necessary for maintaining high
performance. DGT’s ICT Governance is responsible for adding to, maintaining and managing services and solutions to support DGT’s
work. To this end DGT sets up a schéma directeur, a head plan defining the service’s ICT strategy and related priorities.

In implementing the Commission’s administrative procedures, DGT also responds to any needs in terms of internal control, security and
document management. The departments responsible provide assurance to the Director-General on the effectiveness of DGT’s internal
procedures and advice on ways of improving the existing schemes.

 Result Indicators Target at XI 10

1. Number of departments with AD posts occupied within ± 5 % of benchmarks 22 19

2. Percentage of non-permanent translators for EU 27 x < [2010] 9.1

3. Number of training days per official 10 8.55

4. Deadline compliance in ICT development 90 % n/a

5. Rate of compliance with security rules and procedures 100 % 100 %

6. Degree of implementation of audit action plans within deadlines 90 % 67 %

 Outputs
♦ Learning and Development Framework

♦ IT Schéma directeur

♦ Security policy measures

♦ Appropriate physical infrastructure

♦ Audit and evaluation action plans

 Financial Information  Budget

1. Training 950 000 €
2. ICT development 865 000 €
3. Multilingual tools and databases (others) 1 060 000 €
4. Missions 952 000 €
5. External Staff 7618030 €

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L Objective L – Ensure sound financial management as well as legality and regularity of

underlying transactions
It is of the utmost importance for DGT to plan, implement and monitor its activities, having full regard for the principles of legality and
regularity. DGT services act in compliance with the rules and procedures, under the general principle of sound financial management.
In this context, the annual budget is adjusted regularly in order to meet the priorities and satisfy DGT’s actual needs, with a view to
achieving the objectives set out in the Management Plan. DGT has put in place monitoring tools which support the decision-making
process.

 Result Indicators Target at XI 10

1. Number of reservations about the financial management 0 0

< 2 % of the n/a

amount of the
2. Value of exceptions reported
corresponding
budget line

3. Percentage of payments executed within 30 calendar days upon receipt of invoice 100 % 98.87 %

4. Absorption of budgetary backlog (RAL) 100 % 85.80%

 Outputs
♦ Timely resource allocation

♦ Effective budget reporting

♦ Sound risk management

 Financial Information
No budget

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Glossary
AAR Annual Activity Report

ABB Activity Based Budgeting

CWP The Commission’s Work Programme

DGT Directorate-General for Translation

ECMT European Commission Machine Translation

EEAS European External Action Service

EMT European Master’s in Translation network

EU10 Official languages following the 2004 enlargement:

CS-Czech, ET-Estonian, HU-Hungarian, LT-Lithuanian, LV-Latvian, MT-Maltese, PL-Polish, SK-
Slovak, SL-Slovene

FO Field Office

IATE InterActive Terminology for Europe, a terminology database for use by institutions and the
general public (dissemination IATE). This tool replaces the former Eurodicautom terminology
database.

ICT Information and Communication Technology

ICTI Interinstitutional Committee for Translation and Interpreting, better known by its French acronym,
CITI

MP Management Plan

QC1 Quality Control level 1. QC1 corresponds to a high level of quality control, to be done by
someone who did not do the translation, by revision or cross-reading. It concerns documents
corresponding to political priorities and/or creating new legal obligations, documents resulting
from existing legal obligations and documents resulting from the Commission’s communications
priorities.

SLA Service Level Agreement

TQM Total Quality Management. TQM is a customer-focused management philosophy that seeks to
continuously improve business processes using analytical tools and teamwork involving all
employees.

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