Declaration of Performance's Translation

The Declaration of Performance contains essential information about a given construction product and its properties. It is issued by appropriate certification bodies and gives contractors, investors, and buyers a guarantee that the item is safe. Thanks to the precise information in this document, it is possible to compare solutions and parameters quickly.

Such a concise and vital document is a real challenge for a translator, who must be very careful about the accuracy of the translation. Recently I had the opportunity to face that challenge. The translation from English to Polish required me to delve into the subject. Fortunately, there is much information because such a declaration must be issued based on REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL (EU) NO 305/2011. Hence, a good translation source here is the EUR-Lex website offering European Union legal documents in various languages.

Interestingly, the declaration of performance of the products has replaced the declaration of conformity, and these documents differ from each other. Thus the current declaration may require a new translation. Nevertheless, manufacturers, in many cases, still use the declaration of conformity because the validity of the latter only expires with the expiry of the technical approval.

The good news for the translator is that once you have already well and faithfully translated one declaration of performance, you can use this text for subsequent orders. Although technical documents require high precision and knowledge of the subject, they are largely repeatable.