News

On 24 November, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (SACL) welcomed Natalija Točickienė, Head of the Lithuanian Legal Translation Unit of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), and the legal linguists of the Unit.

During the meeting, the guests presented the peculiarities of their profession to the judges and lawyers of SACL, shared their experience and the challenges they face in their work. Particular attention was paid to the requests for preliminary rulings received by the CJEU from national courts. According to Natalia Točickienė, when translating and revising these documents, difficulties arise mostly due to the translation of national law provisions, the use of synonyms and complex linguistic constructions. As noted by the CJEU's legal linguists, a well-drafted reference for a preliminary ruling makes it much easier to translate and understand in the same way in all the official languages of the European Union (EU). The CJEU noted that in many cases, preliminary ruling requests from Lithuanian courts, in particular from the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania, are clear and of high quality, and the CJEU's rulings on them set precedents for the interpretation of EU law that are important and relevant for all EU Member States.

The participants also exchanged knowledge and good practice on the tools and technological resources used in their work to facilitate their daily activities in the context of the issues discussed, and highlighted the importance and added value of further mutual cooperation and exchange of experience.