Language of Proceedings and Interpreting
In compliance with the Administrative Procedure Code, Czech is the official language of proceedings and documents1.
Official documents in foreign languages must be submitted in their original, and bound with a certified Czech translation.
If you cannot speak the language of the proceedings, you have a right to arrange a certified interpreter registed in the list of sworn translators and interpreters2. Applicants who retain the services of an interpreter, do so at their own expense.
If there is no certified interpreter for the particular language registered in the list, or if the interpreting of a sworn interpreter registered in the list, would cause undue costs or difficulties, it would be possible to accept as a person, who is not registered in the list as an interpreter, but has professional qualifications to carry out such a service. However, the applicants must prove the disproportionate height of costs or difficulties which would arise through the sworn interpreter’s service.
The Ministry issues a resolution appointing the interpreter for a particular act within the proceedings.
The aforementioned conditions do not apply to persons, who communicate with the Ministry of the Interior on behalf of the applicants, within the scope of a common agenda of agency (i.e., they are acting in the position of an authorized representative). If the act which is dealt with falls under § 34 section 2 of the Administrative Procedure Code, which requires the personal attendance of applicants (e.g. a hearing), the person specified in the above sentence cannot be admitted as an interpreter (for such a person acts in the role of an authorized representative), and interpreting must be performed by a person meeting the conditions of the Law on Court Interpreters and Court Translators.
If the applicants retain an interpreter at their own expense, but s/he does not meet the above conditions, the Ministry will not accept the person as an interpreter, and the act will not be executed.
If the Ministry of the Interior performs an act dealing with a person other than the applicant (e.g. hearing of third parties to the proceedings, a witness, etc.), and such a person cannot speak Czech, the Ministry of the Interior will find and appoint an interpreter by a resolution. However, in the case of an applicant who is the subject of ongoing proceedings, it is always necessary to obtain an interpreter at the applicant’s own expense in the manner described above.
1§ 16(1) of the Administrative Procedure Code.