The purpose of the Register of Legal Interpreters is to help authorities and private individuals find a legal interpreter who is sufficiently qualified to serve in legal matters. The decision to add a legal interpreter to the Register is made by the Board for the Register of Legal Interpreters, and the Register is maintained by the Finnish National Agency for Education.

The Finnish National Agency for Education maintains a Register of Legal Interpreters in which you can find legal interpreters approved by the Board for the Register of Legal Interpreters.

A legal interpreter provides interpretation services in various legal and official matters, such as the processes of the courts, the police and the Finnish Immigration Service. A legal interpreter masters the professional language and standard expressions of these authorities in both working languages.

The Register of Legal Interpreters contains interpreters of the following languages (updated on 1 July 2022):

  • Albanian
  • Arabic
  • Bulgarian
  • Chinese
  • Dari
  • Dutch
  • English
  • Estonian
  • Finnish sign language
  • French
  • German
  • Greek
  • Kurdish (Sorani)
  • Latvian
  • Lithuanian
  • Norwegian
  • Persian
  • Polish
  • Portuguese
  • Russian
  • Somali
  • Spanish
  • Swedish
  • Thai
  • Tigrinya
  • Turkish
  • Vietnamese

In case of a system error in the Register, you can enquire about interpreters’ contact details by sending an e-mail to oikeustulkkirekisteri(at)oph.fi

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Criteria for entry in the Register

On application, the Board for the Register of Legal Interpreters enters in the Register an interpreter

  • who is of age and whose legal competency has not been restricted
  • who has completed either a specialist qualification in legal interpreting or a higher education degree appropriate for the work of an interpreter and legal interpreting studies worth at least 35 credits or of a similar scope. Of these, studies familiarising the student with the Finnish legal system, legislation and official procedures account for 15 credits, and studies in legal interpretation methods and command of the working language account for 20 credits.

By decision of the Board for the Register of Legal Interpreters, the following higher education studies meet the criteria for registration compliant with the Government Decree:

  • BA of service interpreting, Diaconia University of Applied Sciences
  • Master's Programme in Translation and Interpreting, specialisation in court interpreting at the University of Helsinki
  • a higher education degree and specialist training in court interpreting
  • Master's programme in Multilingual Communication and Translation Studies at the University of Tampere, including the study unit of court interpreting

For more information on the studies required for entry in the Register of Legal Interpreters, see Government Decree 177/2016 (in Finnish).

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Applying for entry in the register

Interpreters can apply for entry in the Register of Legal Interpreters by sending an application and its attachments to the Board, which processes the applications at its meeting.

The required attachments are
•    a qualification certificate, and
•    a legal interpreter’s assurance.

Applicants must also submit a transcript of record, excluding those who have completed a Specialist qualification in Court Interpreting.

The qualification certificate (and transcript of record) must be officially certified. Acceptable ways of official certification are
•    An official copy of the certificate issued by the institution, or
•    A copy certified by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency

Applications should be sent to:
Registry
Finnish National Agency for Education
P.O. Box 380
00531 Helsinki
or
kirjaamo(at)oph.fi

The application and its attachments must reach the Finnish National Agency for Education no later than 14 days before the meeting at which the application is processed.

The following meeting dates are:

30 September 2022
21 October 2022
9 December 2022

The fee for processing the application is EUR 400 (section 1 of the Ministry of Education and Culture Decree on Fees Charged for Finnish National Agency for Education's Services). The processing fee for renewing an entry in the Register and adding a new pair of languages is EUR 200 (section 2 of the Ministry of Education and Culture Decree on Fees Charged for Finnish National Agency for Education's Services 87/2020).

An approved interpreter will receive a certificate of their entry in the register.

Attachment documents to an application for registration as a legal interpreter
Oikeustulkin vakuutus (pdf, 190.01 KB)
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The Board for the Register of Legal Interpreters, which makes decisions on adding interpreters to the Register and removing them from it, operates in conjunction with the Finnish National Agency for Education.

The Board’s tasks are

  • making decisions on adding a legal interpreter to the Register of Legal Interpreters
  • making decisions on removing a legal interpreter from the Register of Legal Interpreters
  • overseeing the work of legal interpreters entered in the Register.

Among other things, the Board members represent persons working as interpreters, users of legal interpreters and professionals of instruction in the field of interpretation and translation.

Board for the Register of Legal Interpreters 2021–2025

Chairperson: Simo Määttä, University of Helsinki

Vice Chair: Gun-Viol Vik, Diaconia University of Applied Sciences

Members:

  • Ruta Rannat, Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters SKTL
  • Laura Reunanen, Kieliasiantuntijat ry
  • Johannes Kaikkonen, Suomen Puhevammaisten Tulkit ry
  • Anu Viljanmaa, University of Tampere
  • Mika Risla, National Courts Administration
  • Juha Fredriksson, Helsinki District Court
  • Ekaterina Tsavro, Tampere Adult Education Centre
  • Anna-Riina Korteniemi, National Police Board

Deputy members:

  • Pia Leppälä, Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters SKTL
  • Tuija Kokk, Kieliasiantuntijat ry
  • Anitta Malmberg, Kieliasiantuntijat ry
  • Igor Kudashev, University of Tampere
  • Taina Neira, Ministry of Justice
  • Marjatta Berg, Helsinki District Court
  • Pirjo Pouttu, Diaconia University of Applied Sciences
  • Konsta Arvelin, National Police Board
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Acts and regulations

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Contact details

In questions related to the Register of Legal Interpreters, please contact:
oikeustulkkirekisteri(at)oph.fi
tel. +358 29 5331554

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Read more

The Register of Legal Interpreters celebrated its fifth anniversary in spring 2021. Read the news item on the Finnish National Agency for Education’s website in Finnish:

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