ISO CERTIFICATION
To ensure that its quality standards are reflected in its translation processes, the company decided in 2009 to apply for certification as a provider of translation services in accordance with the European Standard DIN EN 15038, now ISO 17100. Both the original audit and all re-audits since have been successful. This certification, held by only a few other companies in Germany, confirms that the holder complies with stringent requirements on its quality assurance processes and demands a high level of qualification from its internal and external employees.
Germany’s quality language services – the quality movement
Since 2007, Heike Leinhäuser has served as the president of the QSD, an organization that was established in 1998 as the association “Qualitätssprachendienste Deutschlands (QSD) e.V.” upon the recommendation of the EUATC (European Union of Associations of Translation Companies). In association with the EUATC, the QSD represents the interests and views of the German translation industry and, thus, German translation companies. Its key goals include increasing the professionalism of translation work and creating a lobby for the sector of language services, an area whose importance is rapidly growing, within the globalized economy.
Quality-conscious translation companies have joined together in this organization, and a significant number of them already have audited quality-assurance systems in place. These systems include certification based on DIN EN ISO 9001:2000 and audits conducted in accordance with QSD guidelines. The QSD provides new members that do not have a quality-management system with the opportunity to prepare themselves for these or comparable quality-assurance systems.
Heike Leinhäuser assumed her additional role of President of the EUATC in January 2019.