Court Interpreter Rates in Belgium: Police, Prosecutor, Court

Whether you are summoned before the Brussels criminal court, engaged in a commercial arbitration procedure or held in police custody, calling on a court interpreter in Belgium follows precise rules. Between the official scale set by the royal decree of 18 November 1998 and the market rates for a private court interpreter, the gaps are considerable. This guide gives you the real figures.

Court-appointed interpreter vs. private interpreter: two pricing realities

In Belgium, when a court appoints an interpreter ex officio, that interpreter is remunerated according to the scale of the royal decree of 18 November 1998, amended several times since then. This official scale provides an hourly rate between 30 and 50 euros per hourdepending on the language and the type of jurisdiction, to which are added a kilometre allowance (set at 0.42 euros/km at the public service rate) and a minimum engagement of two hours. These rates are charged directly to the legal costs and advanced by the Belgian State.

The situation is radically different when a party calls on a private interpreter, at its own expense, to strengthen its defence or to ensure a higher quality of interpretation. The private market for court interpreting in Belgium ranges between 80 and 150 euros per hour, excluding travel expenses. This range is explained by the qualification requirements: registration on the official list of the FPS Justice, additional legal training, mastery of procedural vocabulary in both languages, and availability for hearings whose end time is rarely predictable.

Types of court assignments and their specificities

Court interpreting covers very varied contexts, each with its own constraints of vocabulary, pace and psychological pressure.

• Police and prosecution: initial hearings, official reports, interrogations in the presence of a judicial police officer. The interpreter must transcribe faithfully, without summarising, and sign each page of the report. The summons can occur at any time.
• Investigating judge: interrogations in the context of a judicial investigation, confrontations, searches with the presence of an interpreter. The files are often voluminous and absolute confidentiality is required.
• Criminal court hearing: criminal court of first instance (Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Liège). Variable duration from half an hour to several days. The interpreter works in consecutive or whispered mode depending on the configuration of the room.
• Court of appeal: court of second instance, more technical procedural vocabulary, a faster pace. The duration of the hearing is generally longer.
• Commercial arbitration: private procedure before the Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (CEPANI) or the ICC. The parties freely choose their interpreter and the rates are freely negotiated, generally per full day.

Qualification requirements: the official FPS Justice list

Since the law of 10 April 2014 inserting a title Ibis into the Judicial Code, court interpreters must be registered on the national list managed by the FPS Justice and accessible via the e-Justice platform. Registration requires: a verification of language skills (level C2), a certificate of good conduct, the absence of a criminal conviction incompatible with the exercise of the assignment, and training in fundamental rights and professional secrecy.

An interpreter not registered on this list may technically intervene in certain civil procedures or arbitrations, but cannot be appointed ex officio by a criminal jurisdiction. For parties wishing to call on a private interpreter before a criminal jurisdiction, it is strongly recommended to choose a professional appearing on the official list, a guarantee of quality and credibility before the judge.

Pricing structure: how a court assignment is calculated

Unlike translation billed per source word, court interpreting is billed per hour or per half-day with the following components.

• Basic hourly rate: 80 to 150 euros depending on the language and the jurisdiction, with a minimum engagement of two hours even if the hearing is shorter.
• Kilometre allowance: 0.42 euros per kilometre round trip from the interpreter's home or office, in accordance with the vehicle scale of the Belgian public service.
• Waiting time: hearings rarely start at the scheduled time. Waiting time in the corridors of the courthouse is billable, generally at the same hourly rate or at a reduced rate agreed in advance.
• Parking and public transport costs: billed on proof for hearings in the major cities (Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Liège).
• Night and weekend urgency surcharge: from 50 to 100% of the base hourly rate for night summonses (after 10 pm), interventions on Saturday (50% surcharge) and on Sunday or public holidays (100% surcharge).

For a standard half-day criminal court hearing in Brussels, the total cost of a private interpreter is generally between 350 and 600 euros, travel expenses included. A full day before the Court of appeal can reach 800 to 1 400 euros depending on the language and the actual duration.

Table of court interpreting rates in Belgium

Languages and availability: what the Belgian market can offer

Belgium is a multilingual country with significant migration flows, which generates a demand for court interpreting in dozens of languages. The languages most commonly requested before the Belgian courts are: Arabic (Moroccan and classical), Turkish, Polish, Romanian, Albanian, Dutch (for proceedings in French and vice versa), English and Russian. For these languages, availability is generally good and mobilisation times of 24 to 48 hours are realistic.

For the less widespread languages (Pashto, Somali, Tigrinya, Amharic, Urdu), the official list of the FPS Justice has few registered professionals. In these cases, the mobilisation times can exceed 72 hours and a rate supplement of 20 to 40% is frequent to compensate for the additional travel expenses.

Court interpreting and the right to a fair trial

Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees any accused person who does not understand the language of the proceedings the right to be assisted free of charge by an interpreter. In Belgium, this right is implemented by the Salduz law of 13 August 2011 (assistance at the police hearing), supplemented by directive 2010/64/EU on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings.

Concretely, this means that in a criminal procedure, the Belgian State bears the interpreting costs. By contrast, in civil and commercial disputes, the parties must in principle understand each other and, if they call on a private interpreter, bear the cost themselves.