Commercial and Company Document Translation for Malta

Malta may be a small island state, but it reaches the agenda of Turkish companies often enough, under the headings of company formation, the ship register and the export of services. This page takes up the documents a company established in Türkiye will put before the register, a bank or a business partner in Malta; a Maltese company structuring itself in Türkiye is a separate file that runs the other way.

What difference does English being an official language make?

English is an official language in Malta alongside Maltese, and the working language of commercial life is largely English. For Turkish companies that is a genuine convenience: the English translation of your documents is accepted as it stands, and nobody expects you to have them rendered into Maltese as well. The convenience stops there. The language of the translation may be no problem, but the level of certification still is; you will be asked who translated the Turkish document going to the register, to a notary or to a bank, and how that translation was certified. The assumption that “it is in English, so it will do” is the misconception seen most often in Maltese files. The seals, stamps and handwritten endorsements on Turkish documents have to be included in the translation too; translating only the printed text and passing over what the seals say counts as an incomplete translation.

Turkish documents before the company register

Companies in Malta are held on the national business registry authority, and the instrument of incorporation together with a letter showing that a company is currently active are the two papers commercial life asks for constantly. Their counterparts in Türkiye are, respectively, the notice in the trade registry gazette and a currently dated certificate of activity obtained from the trade registry directorate. The articles of association are added for the ownership structure and objects, the signature circular for authority to represent. If a subsidiary is to be set up in Malta, the resolution of the parent shareholder’s decision-making organ joins the file as well. When bank accounts are opened, the ownership chain and a declaration of beneficial ownership are asked for separately; the documents underpinning those declarations are subject to the same level of certification.

The ship register: a heading peculiar to Malta

Malta holds one of the largest ship registers in the world, and that concerns Turkish shipping companies directly. For registration of a vessel, creation of a mortgage and change of flag, the set of documents called for differs from the classic commercial file: title documents, the certificate of deletion, class certificates, the tonnage certificate and mortgage instruments all come into play. Some of these are drawn up in English to begin with; those in Turkish call for a high level of certification when translated, because they are texts that create rights of ownership and security. Terminology parts company here with general commercial translation, and consistency in maritime terms is looked for.

Type of file	Documents to the fore	Note
Company formation	Articles of association, register entry, board resolution	Apostilled and translated
Bank account	Ownership structure, beneficial ownership declaration	Source documents certified too
Ship registration	Title, deletion and class certificates	Maritime terminology
Shipment	Invoice, certificate of origin	Chamber and customs route

Licence applications: the weight of the compliance file

A licence is taken out in Malta in order to operate in regulated fields such as finance, insurance, payment services and online entertainment, and licence applications call for a stack of documents going well beyond the classic company file. Opening the ownership chain up as far as the natural persons at the very top of it, documents on the background of key officers, a business plan, financial projections and internal control policies typically enter the file. Some of these originate in Turkish and have to be translated; official documents such as a criminal record certificate need an apostille as well. In licence files the regulator pays unusual attention to consistency of terminology and to completeness; a document with a page missing can put the whole file on hold.

The certification chain and the apostille

There is no separate regime of sworn translators in Malta; the translation is submitted with a declaration of accuracy from the translator or the agency, and notarisation is added where it is needed. In a file prepared in Türkiye, by contrast, the chain of a sworn translator’s signature, notarisation and an apostille applies. Obtaining an apostille for the Turkish official document itself is a step separate from the validity of the translation; do not confuse the two. Malta is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention; verify the current list of parties through the HCCH. You can find which level each document calls for on our document types page.

The commonest ground of rejection, and delivery

The first ground of rejection in Maltese files is that the English translation was sent without carrying any certification at all. The second is the date of the document: the letter showing the company is active and the register entry are expected to be recent. The third is that the apostille was obtained for a photocopy rather than for the original, a detail that often goes unnoticed. On delivery the complete set is expected, stamped and signed, and a physical copy may be asked for even where the papers are sent electronically. You can see the difference in price by level of certification on our pricing page and send us your file through the quote form.

The information here is general in nature; the conditions of acceptance and the certification chain in the destination country can change from time to time. Before you decide, it is worth looking at what the institution itself publishes.