Important note:
In accordance with the new edition of the Sworn Translators Act of the Republic of Estonia since January 01, 2015 only sworn translators have the right to make official certified translations from Estonian to any foreign language. More information about sworn translators you can find here.
Though, you can get a notarised translation from a foreign language to Estonian and from a foreign language to another foreign language.
In case of a notarised translation the fees to be paid to the notary’s office is added to fees for translation services. Notarisation of one document costs 16,00 EUR
A certified copy (1 page) of a notarised document costs 5,00 EUR
An apostille for one document in the framework of translation service costs 30 EUR
The cost of translation of a standard document (identity card, birth or marriage certificate etc) starts from 13 EUR (the price depends on the language pair). The cost of notarised translation includes the notary fees specified before.
For translation of a larger document a higher rate will be charged.
You need a notarised translation if you wish to use a document issued in Estonia abroad or vice versa.
In first case depending on the state where you need to use the translated document you also have to legalise or apostillise the document. If you wish to use the document in Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Russian Federation or Poland, then no legalisation is required as the foregoing states have concluded a mutual legal assistance agreement with Estonia.
If you wish to use the translated document in another country, then the document must be apostillised (in case of a member country of Hague Convention, see. http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=states.listing) or legalised (in case of a country being not a member of Hague Convention).
If you wish to use a document issued in a foreign state in Estonia, then the document must be apostillised (in case of a member country of Hague Convention) or legalised (in case of a country being not a member of Hague Convention) in a respective institution of the state where the document was issued.
In Estonia translations of public documents – court and administrative documents, documents regarding the notarised transactions and official (issued by authorities) certificates and references – can be notarised.
If you need a notarised translation of a document, you should provide an original document with signature and seal (if you have a document on a letterhead, signature is enough). A notarised copy or a copy verified by a stamp of respective authority is also considered as original document (including duplicates with a respective stamp). If a document containing multiple pages is not correctly bound by issuing authority, then a seal or stamp of the authority, or a signature of authorised person or signatures of all parties must be on each page. If there are some corrections in the original document, they must be verified by a signature or stamp.
Notarised translation is done by a translator authorised by a notary’s office.
If an official document issued in a foreign state has been neither apostillised nor legalised, or the document has been sent by e-mail, or otherwise whereby the translation cannot be notarised, or the client wishes no notarisation thereof, then the translation service agency can approve the translation with seal. Above all, the document must be translated, then a copy will be done from the original document and will be bound with the translation signed by the translator and approved with seal. Some authorities in Estonia accept documents issued in such form. Although, in each certain case you should ascertain it before.