Translation of Commercial and Company Documents for Austria

For Turkish companies trading with Austria the paperwork almost always moves in one direction: company documents produced in Türkiye are translated into German and put before a registry, a bank or a buyer in Austria. An Austrian company opening a branch in Türkiye is the mirror image of that, and a separate process altogether. This page deals with the first direction – a Turkish company proving itself to its Austrian counterpart.

The logic of the Firmenbuch and its Turkish counterpart

Companies in Austria are held in a central register called the Firmenbuch, and a current extract from that register is the basic identity document of business life there. Your Austrian counterpart expects the same thing of you; in Türkiye the equivalent is the certificate of activity issued by the trade registry directorate together with the incorporation and amendment notices published in the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette. The full text of the articles of association is asked for separately in joint venture, distributorship and credit files, since it shows the ownership structure and the authority to represent the company. If a trade licence is to be obtained in order to operate in Austria, documents relating to professional qualifications join the file as well, and their translation is assessed under a heading of its own, apart from the commercial documents.

Who may translate: the register of court-sworn translators

This is where Austria is at its strictest. A translation put before an official body must be produced by a translator sworn before the courts and entered on the official register; a translation from outside that register can be turned back at the document check whatever its quality. This may look like Germany, but practice differs as to the register itself and to the form of the stamp. The route followed for a translation produced in Türkiye is a sworn translator’s signature, notarisation and an apostille. Which of the two routes will hold good is settled by the authority handling the matter; private counterparts such as a chamber of commerce or a bank are generally more flexible, while registry and court procedures are not.

Type of file	Typical core documents	Level of certification expected
Branch or subsidiary formation	Articles of association, registry extract, signature circular	Highest: notarisation + apostille
Distributorship agreement	Certificate of activity, signature circular	Medium: a stamped translation is usually enough
Tender or supplier registration	Currently dated registry extract, tax registration	Varies with the specification
Customs and shipping	Invoice, certificate of origin, A.TR	Chamber and customs route; outside translation

Telling customs paperwork apart from legal documents

Austria is a member of the European Union, so trade in industrial goods between it and Türkiye runs within the customs union, and the A.TR movement certificate plays the central part. That document, along with the certificate of origin and EUR.1, follows the route of chamber approval and a customs visa; as pre-printed multilingual forms they are not the subject of sworn translation. Contracts, powers of attorney, registry extracts and court papers, on the other hand, produce legal consequences and are subject to the full translation chain. Drawing this line at the outset cuts unnecessary notary and apostille costs straight away.

Power of attorney: the chain matters as much as the scope of authority

If a matter in Austria is to be handled for you by a local lawyer or partner, the power of attorney should be drafted narrowly and plainly: on behalf of which company, for which transaction, and for how long. The authority of the person signing it is proved together with a currently dated registry extract and the signature circular; on its own, a power of attorney is often not counted as enough. The order runs like this: signature before a notary, then the apostille, then the translation. Austria is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention; even so, verify practice for the document type in question and the current list of parties through the HCCH.

Joint venture and supply chain files

When Austrian industrial groups take on Turkish suppliers they usually want a file in two layers: the first shows the legal existence of the company, the second its production capability. The first layer is subject to the full translation chain. The quality management certificates, test reports and technical specifications making up the second layer are generally met with a stamped translation; notarisation and an apostille are seldom asked for on these. Where a joint venture is to be set up, the board resolution, the shareholders’ agreement and the documents covering capital undertakings come into play, and these call for the highest level of certification. Separating the file into these two layers and applying a distinct level of certification to each shortens both the budget and the delivery time noticeably.

The commonest ground for rejection, and the form of delivery

Two reasons account for most of the commercial files that come back from Austria. The first is that the translation was obtained from a translator not entered on the register. The second is the date on the registry extract: specifications call for a currently dated copy, and an older one is refused even when it has been translated. Third in line comes the translation being handed in as a separate sheet of paper from the document; the translation should be delivered as a sealed whole, attached to a copy of the original. Where a portal wants digital delivery, keep a wet-signed set to hand alongside the scanned one. You can follow the differences between destination countries in our country guide and the document-level detail on our documents page, and upload your file to the quotation form.

The information here is general in nature; the acceptance requirements and certification chain of the destination country can change from time to time. Confirming what is currently required before you apply saves time.