CHALLENGES IN TRANSLATING AND INTERPRETING EU ACTS IN THE FIELD OF TAXATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/2522-4077-2023-206-1Keywords:
multilingualism, legal translation, tax law, interpretation, European Union, European Court of Justice, tax evasion, tax avoidanceAbstract
Being a multilingual international organization, the European Union faces various difficulties in translation and application of its constituent instruments as well as acts of secondary legislation, especially in the field of taxation. The principle of equal status for the languages of the Member States was declared when the Union was established. Legislation and documents of major public importance or interest are produced in all official languages. Legal translation plays a key role in this regard. Along with legal terminology, textual and pragmatic considerations should be taken into account. It is argued that general translation principles may be applied to legal translation only with regard to special methods and techniques. Nowadays, translator is no longer a mediator who reproduces a source text. Translators have to take into account cultural and legal context (legal system of the state, type of a legal document, legal formalities), as well as style for accuracy of the target text. Ambiguity and vagueness may result in challenges for translation, and consequently for application, as well as enforcement of tax provisions that may lead to tax avoidance and even tax evasion. Should any differences in translation and interpretation of tax rules arise within the EU, the European Court of Justice plays the key role in their settlement. With a view to overcoming tax evasion, the ECJ interprets the provisions in question in the light of the other languages and due to the context and EU legislation. Furthermore, in case of divergence the provision at issue shall be interpreted by considering its purpose and giving due consideration to the general scheme of the rules of which it forms part. Interpreted separately, tax acts suffer linguistic uncertainty.
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