Commercial and Company Document Translation for the UK

The United Kingdom is one of the markets where Turkish companies set up most and export most. This page sets out the translation of the documents a company established in Türkiye will put before Companies House, its buyer, its bank or a tendering authority. A British company opening a branch or a liaison office in Türkiye is a separate process, in which the same documents run the other way and are translated into Turkish.

The Companies House reflex and the Turkish equivalent of the register

Company information in the United Kingdom is held at Companies House and is open to the public; your counterparty is used to looking up a company on its own side in a matter of seconds. What it expects from you is the same transparency. The Turkish equivalent comes as a set of two: a recently dated certificate of activity from the trade registry directorate and the notice in the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette. Add the articles of association and the signature circular to these and you have supplied the three pieces of data the other side is looking for as the founding document, the trading status and the identity of the authorised signatory. Explaining in one sentence in the covering letter which document answers to what closes off the objection that “this is not a Companies House record”.

No sworn translator: what does “certified translation” mean?

There is no system of sworn translators in the United Kingdom. What official procedures expect is the statement of accuracy attached to the translation: a signed page carrying the declaration that the translation is complete and correct, the name of the translator or the agency, contact details and the date. Membership of a professional association is not compulsory but adds confidence. This flexibility does not mean that certification counts for little; a translation with no statement is not accepted. In some procedures the statement may be required to be made before a notary, or to be converted into the form of an affidavit. The chain of notarisation and apostille can also be used in a file prepared in Türkiye; find out from your counterparty which of them will be wanted. In practice the soundest course is to put the statement on a separate page rather than on the last page of the translation, and to stamp every page; the set is then seen to be complete at a glance and no argument arises about a missing page.

Setting up a company in the United Kingdom: where the weight of the file really lies

Company formation in the United Kingdom moves quickly in administrative terms, which gives the impression of a light file; the real weight, though, begins after incorporation. The registered address and the details of directors and persons with significant control are notified to the register, and the documents underlying those notifications are called for from time to time. The genuine bottleneck is opening a bank account: the compliance review runs right to the top of the ownership chain, and the Turkish parent shareholder’s registry records and articles of association, together with the identity and address documents of the directors, are submitted as certified translations. Address evidence such as a tenancy agreement or a utility bill can also find its way onto the list of items to be translated. These are the documents put off at the formation stage with a “we will deal with that later”, and because they are all wanted at once and in full when the account is opened, this is the point at which the process jams most often.

Customs paperwork after the Union: the A.TR era has closed

The United Kingdom is now outside the European Union customs union, so the logic of the A.TR movement certificate no longer holds in trade with Türkiye, and preferential trade rests on proof of origin within the framework of the free trade agreement between the two countries. The form of the origin declaration is settled by the rules of that agreement, and these documents do not come to a translator’s desk; they are completed through the exporter’s declaration, chamber approval and customs procedures. The invoice and the packing list are likewise drawn up in English from the outset. The translation chain is only for texts that create undertakings. This distinction is one of the points most often confused by companies that have been exporting to Union countries for years. It is worth recalling too that shipments to Northern Ireland are subject to an arrangement of their own; confirm the practice there with your customs broker, though on the translation side no difference arises.

Powers of attorney, tenders and the commonest ground for refusal

If a transaction in the United Kingdom is to be handled through your local accountant or lawyer, the power of attorney should be narrow in scope and the authority of the person granting it supported by a current registry record and signature circular. The order runs: signature before a notary, apostille, translation. The country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention; verify the current list of parties through the HCCH. In tenders and supplier registrations the commonest ground for refusal is that the statement of accuracy has not been attached to the translation; second comes the date of the document, and third the quality of the scan. Electronic submission is widespread, but the seal and the signature must be legible on the scanned copy. You can upload your file through the quote form, see what difference scope makes on our pricing page, and compare other markets in our country guide.

This page is intended as guidance; the certification regimes of countries and the document formats they require may be updated over time. Confirming the current requirement before you apply saves time.