ISO 24019:2022 (Simultaneous interpreting delivery platforms – Requirements and recommendations) was published at the beginning of September. It is a restructured and significantly improved version of its predecessor ISO PAS¹ 24019 with the same title, published in 2020.
The negotiations on the main provisions of the PAS were more or less finalised in the middle of 2019. With the rapid advent of distance interpreting platforms, the ISO experts agreed that a basic set of requirements and recommendations was indispensable, even if without further study, it was not possible to establish how to reach sound levels which were fully acceptable to interpreters. However, the proliferation of virtual meetings in subsequent months brought sufficient practical experience, as well as motivation, to improve the technical parameters. As a result, a new, comprehensive and fully-fledged standard was approved already in August 2022.
The EU institutions played a key role in promoting and drafting the requirements for the RSI sector. Marguerite Lely, former Head of the Compliance Team at DG SCIC, now active senior (retired staff still working for the EC under agreed terms), has been the convenor of the working group in charge of both documents. She chaired the working group meetings, collected contributions and negotiated a consensus among experts.
The new ISO standard guarantees high quality transmission of audio and video signals from speakers/signers to interpreters and back. It defines not only the technical parameters of the interpreting platform itself, but also the roles and responsibilities of all the actors involved in the communicative event, such as speakers, signers, interpreters and technical support staff.
When it comes to the platform, the standard focuses, among other things, on audio characteristics, image quality, monitoring the quality of the speaker’s input, hearing protection and much more. Other requirements span from the working environment and procedures to confidentiality and data protection.
It is a big achievement for all of those involved, including SCIC Technical Compliance, interpreter representatives, as well as EP and ECJ experts.
[1] PAS stands for ‘publicly available specification’. It is a guiding document for stakeholders, often a precursor to a fully-fledged ISO standard.