Judicial Interpretation Information and Document Compilation

Last edited: December 5, 2023

Since the 2017 National Congress on Judicial Reform reached seven resolutions regarding the judicial interpretation system, the government has successively promoted reforms to the interpretation system. Currently, multiple interpreter system designs have been established in agencies such as the Judicial Yuan, the Ministry of Justice, the National Police Agency, and prosecutors offices to facilitate public inquiries and utilization. However, various translation materials are scattered across the websites of different agencies, making it difficult for parties involved to find them.

To facilitate public access and utilization, our Foundation has compiled and explained the currently available government resources as follows:

Notification of Rights and Information Related to Investigative Procedures

1. Notification of Rights for Persons Arrested or Interrogated (National Police Agency): Available in 16 languages including English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Thai, Indonesian, Malay, Arabic, Vietnamese, French, German, Turkish, Dutch, Russian, Cambodian, and Burmese.
2. Defendant Court Hearing Procedures and Related Rights (Hualien District Prosecutors Office): Mandarin, Hakka, Indigenous languages.
3. Applying for an Interpreter (Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office, Hualien District Prosecutors Office): Mandarin, English, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Filipino.

Notification of Rights and Information Related to Court Procedures

1. Video on Interrogation Procedures and Related Rights for Defendants Entering the Courtroom (Ministry of Justice): Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai
2. Video on Important Reminders for Witnesses Appearing in Court (Ministry of Justice): Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai
3. Court Procedures and Litigation Rights (Judicial Yuan): Categorized by defendants, victims, and witnesses
   • (1) Administrative, Criminal, Labor, Civil: Mandarin, Hakka, English, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Sign Language
   • (2) Family, Juvenile: Mandarin only

Interpreter Rosters

1. Roster of Contract Interpreters for Prosecutors Offices (Ministry of Justice)
2. Roster of Contract Interpreters (Judicial Yuan)
3. Interpreter Personnel Database (National Immigration Agency, Ministry of the Interior)
4. Legal Aid Alternative Interpreters (Legal Aid Foundation)

Translation of Litigation-Related Documents and Materials

1. Multilingual Translations of Interpretation Regulations (Judicial Yuan): English, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian
   • (1) Ethical Norms for Court Interpreters
   • (2) Regulations on the Employment of Interpreters by Courts
   • (3) Recusal Regulations and Explanations
   • (4) Feedback Form on Contract Interpreter Interpretation Services
2. Instruction Clauses for Civil, Criminal, Juvenile, Family, Administrative Litigation, and Intellectual Property Judgments (Judicial Yuan): English, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai
3. Foreign-Language Litigation Documents in Administrative Litigation (Judicial Yuan)
4. Multilingual Comparison of Commonly Used Legal Vocabulary (Judicial Yuan): English, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese
   • (1) Comparison Table of Criminal Procedure Act Proper Nouns (Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office): English
   • (2) Comparison Table of Criminal Code Proper Nouns (Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office): English
5. Proper Noun Comparison Tables
   • (1) Chinese-English Comparison Table for Names and Job Titles of Divisions and Offices in Prosecutors Offices
   • (2) Chinese-English Comparison Table for Proper Nouns in the Correctional System
   • (3) Translation Comparison Table for Administrative Enforcement Legal Vocabulary
   • (4) Chinese-English Translation Comparison Table for National Police Agency Personnel Job Titles
   • (5) Chinese-English Translation Comparison Table for National Police Agency Units

Others

Unlike other regions, the Taichung District Prosecutors Office and the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office feature websites available in Mandarin, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and English versions. Among them, the English website is relatively well-developed with more diverse and abundant information; the Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian websites contain less information, but they provide information related to crime victims' claims for damages and responses to common public questions.