Sworn Translation for Court in Namur: Proceedings in Wallonia

The jurisdictions of Namur regularly handle files involving foreign documents: Moroccan divorce judgments, commercial contracts in English or Dutch, Sub-Saharan civil status documents. The Judicial Code requires that any document produced before a Walloon court be drafted in French or accompanied by a sworn translation by a sworn translator registered on the list of the FPS Justice. This guide explains how to prepare your file for the Namur Court.

The Namur Court: organisation and translation obligation for foreign documents

The judicial district of Namur is entirely French-speaking. It covers the province of Namur and hosts three major jurisdictions: the Court of First Instance of Namur, the Enterprise Court of Walloon Brabant-Namur and the Labour Court of Liège (Namur division). These three entities have in common that they require that any foreign document produced in the file be accompanied by a certified translation carried out by a sworn translator-interpreter recognised by the competent Belgian authorities.

The Namur region has immigrant communities coming mainly from Morocco, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Turkey and countries of Eastern Europe. These communities generate a constant flow of foreign documents to be translated for procedures of family (reunification, divorce, inheritance), commercial disputes or files of social law.

The Court of First Instance: civil, criminal and family

The Court of First Instance of Namur is organised into three sections: civil, criminal and family. The family section is the one that generates the most requests for sworn translation. It handles cross-border divorces, requests for recognition of foreign judgments (exequatur), disputes of international custody and filiation cases involving foreign civil status documents.

The criminal section of the Court of First Instance of Namur may be called upon to handle files with digital evidence or correspondence in foreign languages. The Namur investigating jurisdictions also have access to the European Public Prosecutor's Office since 2021 for the files of cross-border fraud. In these configurations, the sworn translation of the foreign documents (contracts, email exchanges, bank statements) is a procedural obligation.

The civil section of the Court of First Instance of Namur handles international inheritances involving property or heirs in third countries. The foreign property deeds, the wills drafted abroad and the certificates of inheritance issued by non-Belgian authorities must be translated before being produced in the inheritance file.

The Enterprise Court: international commercial disputes

The Enterprise Court of Walloon Brabant-Namur is competent for commercial disputes involving companies registered in its jurisdiction. The Namur SMEs maintain relations with Dutch-speaking, Germanic, English partners and increasingly with Asian suppliers. In case of contractual dispute, the contracts, purchase orders, correspondence and general terms and conditions of sale drafted in a foreign language must be translated by a sworn translator.

The international insolvency procedures before the Enterprise Court of Namur may involve documents issued by foreign tax administrations or commercial courts. These documents must systematically be accompanied by a sworn translation into French.

Documents frequently required at the Namur Court

The most common documents in Namur files

• Foreign judgments with a view to exequatur: decisions of divorce, custody or civil conviction pronounced by Moroccan, Turkish, Congolese or other third-country courts, to be submitted to the Court of First Instance of Namur for recognition and enforcement in Belgium.
• Foreign civil status documents: birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates issued by the Moroccan (Morocco), Congolese (DRC), Algerian or Turkish authorities, necessary in files of family, nationality and inheritance.
• International contracts: sales, distribution, service provision or franchise contracts drafted in English, Dutch or German, produced in disputes before the Enterprise Court.
• Statutes of foreign companies: commercial register extracts of a foreign company summoned or partner in a commercial dispute in Namur, required to establish the legal capacity of the opposing party.
• Criminal evidence in a foreign language: electronic messages, contracts, account statements or expert reports drafted in a foreign language and produced in a criminal investigation or a correctional hearing in Namur.
• International inheritance documents: foreign property deeds, holographic wills drafted outside Belgium, certificates of inheritance issued by foreign notaries or authorities.

Ordering your translation for a procedure in Namur

To prepare a judicial file in Namur, the procedure is simple and fast. You send a legible scan of your documents indicating the Namur jurisdiction concerned and the deadline you have before your hearing or filing of the file. We appoint an FPS Justice sworn translator specialised in the language and type of document concerned.

The translation is delivered with the original signature and official stamp of the sworn translator. It complies with the requirements of the Namur registries and can be produced directly in the judicial file without additional steps. For urgent files (imminent hearing), the express 24h mode is available for standard documents.

• Express 24h: civil status documents, short judgments, contracts up to 5 pages, in Arabic, Turkish, English, Dutch, Lingala and other common languages.
• 48h to 72h: voluminous files, less frequent languages, old or handwritten documents difficult to read.
• Digital or postal delivery: certified PDF by default, postal dispatch of the signed and stamped original on request for the registries requiring a physical document.