Italian legal language is a blend of the 1942 Civil Code, the Roman law tradition and EU regulatory practice, where a single term often carries centuries of legal history. Italian medical documentation, for its part, is written within the regional structure of the National Health Service (SSN), with Latin-Italian terminology and trade names that nobody in Georgia understands. In both fields a translation error is not an awkwardness but a legal or clinical risk. This page describes how we work on Italian legal and medical texts, which systemic differences the client should know about and what specific Italian bodies require.
Two continental systems: where they match and where they do not
The Georgian Civil Code was created on the German model, while the Italian one continues the Roman-French tradition, and these two branches sometimes differ in how they divide concepts. The Italian "possesso" and "detenzione" (possession and physical holding) are covered by one concept in the Georgian system; the Italian "usucapione" (acquisitive prescription) exists in the Georgian code too, but the periods differ; the Italian "caparra confirmatoria" and "caparra penitenziale" (two kinds of deposit) do not map one-to-one onto the Georgian deposit. "Clausola penale" is the Georgian contractual penalty, "recesso" is withdrawal from a contract, "risoluzione" is termination of a contract, and all three concepts can appear at once in an Italian contract, each with its own consequence. In the translation the original term stays in brackets, the Georgian equivalent is functional, and at critical points a translator's note points the lawyer to the difference.
Contract translation: structure and formulas
An Italian commercial contract consists of standard blocks: "premesse" (the preamble, which in Italian practice is an integral part of the contract), "oggetto", "durata", "corrispettivo", "obblighi delle parti", "risoluzione", "foro competente", "trattamento dei dati". A Georgian contract uses a similar structure, and the translation preserves the sequence of blocks. The Italian peculiarity is the "clausole vessatorie": under Article 1341 of the Civil Code, certain clauses of a contract (limitation of liability, choice of court, unilateral withdrawal) must be signed separately, a second time, and at the end of an Italian contract a list of these clauses stands with a second signature. In the Georgian translation this block stays unchanged and a note explains why the contract is signed twice. In the "foro competente" clause the choice of an Italian court is a significant risk for the Georgian party, which the translation reflects unambiguously.
Corporate law: S.r.l., S.p.A. and the Camera di Commercio
Italian company forms partly match Georgian ones: an S.r.l. is a limited liability company, an S.p.A. a joint-stock company, the S.n.c. and S.a.s. are partnerships (analogues of the Georgian general partnership and limited partnership), while the S.r.l.s. (simplified, with one euro of capital, since 2012) does not exist as a separate form in the Georgian system. The chamber of commerce extract (visura camerale) is issued from the Register of Enterprises (Registro delle Imprese) and contains the company's full "history", whereas the Georgian extract is short; in the translation the structure of the Italian extract (dati anagrafici, attività, amministratori, soci, capitale) is kept with its headings. "Amministratore unico", "consiglio di amministrazione", "collegio sindacale" (the board of statutory auditors, which is not mandatory in the Georgian system) and "procuratore" are rendered with Georgian corporate terminology, and the signatory's powers ("poteri di firma") exactly, because it is by these that the registry determines who may act on behalf of the company.
Court documents and the Italian judicial system
The Italian judicial system has three tiers in civil and criminal law (Tribunale, Corte d'Appello, Corte di Cassazione), with a justice of the peace (Giudice di Pace) for minor cases and a separate administrative branch (TAR, Consiglio di Stato). An Italian judgment (sentenza) is written in a standard structure: "svolgimento del processo", "motivi della decisione", "P.Q.M." (per questi motivi, the operative part), and the translation keeps this structure. Italian judicial language is marked by long, multi-level sentences and Latin formulas ("ex art.", "de plano", "inaudita altera parte"), which are translated into Georgian in judicial style. The "passata in giudicato" note (entry into legal force), which the court registry certifies separately, is never left untranslated, because it is the basis of the recognition procedure. The length of Italian court proceedings is well known, and interim acts are often translated too: "decreto ingiuntivo" (payment order), "ordinanza", "atto di citazione" (statement of claim).
Notarial acts and real estate
An Italian notary (notaio) certifies all real estate transactions, company formations and family agreements, and an Italian notarial act ("atto pubblico") is written in standard blocks: "repertorio" and "raccolta" numbers, identification of the parties, description of the property with cadastral data (foglio, particella, subalterno), "provenienza" (chain of title), tax declarations. A Georgian notary or the Public Registry receives this document when an Italian inheritance is settled in Georgia, an Italian notarial power of attorney is used in a Georgian transaction, or a share in an Italian company passes to a Georgian partner. In the translation the Italian cadastral system ("catasto fabbricati", "catasto terreni", "rendita catastale") is rendered with the terminology of the Georgian Public Registry, while the numbers stay unchanged. Italian forms of ownership ("comunione", "usufrutto", "nuda proprietà", "diritto di superficie") are translated with the corresponding institutions of the Georgian Civil Code.
Family law: marriage, divorce, children
The affairs of Italian-Georgian families require knowledge of both laws. The Italian default property regime is community of property (comunione dei beni), while separation of property (separazione dei beni) is chosen at the wedding or before a notary, and this choice appears in the marriage act, which must be reflected in the translation. Divorce is two-stage (separazione, then divorzio), with shortened periods since 2015 (six months by agreement, twelve if contested), and since 2014 it is also possible without a court through an agreement drawn up by lawyers. Concepts relating to children ("responsabilità genitoriale", "affidamento condiviso", "collocamento prevalente", "assegno di mantenimento") are rendered with Georgian family law terminology, while "affidamento condiviso" (shared custody), the default regime in Italy, needs an explanation for the Georgian system. In inheritance cases the Italian "dichiarazione di successione" (inheritance tax return) and "legittima" (reserved share) are submitted to a Georgian notary with an apostille and a translation.
Employment law: badanti, colf and collective agreements
Most Georgians working in Italy fall into the category of domestic workers (lavoro domestico), regulated by a separate national collective agreement (CCNL lavoro domestico): levels (livelli A-D), working hours, cohabitation (convivenza), leave, the thirteenth salary (tredicesima), end-of-service allowance (TFR). These documents are translated into Georgian when the worker calculates pension service in Georgia, a bank considers a loan or an employment dispute is settled with a Georgian lawyer. Italian employment terminology ("busta paga", "contributi INPS", "licenziamento", "dimissioni", "preavviso") is rendered with the concepts of the Georgian Labour Code, while TFR (trattamento di fine rapporto), which does not exist in the Georgian system, is explained with a note. In other sectors (construction, agriculture, restaurants) the relevant CCNL applies, and the translation conveys the level and category of the contract exactly.
Italian medical documentation: the structure of the SSN
Italian healthcare is regional: the National Health Service (SSN) works through the regions, with local health agencies (ASL or ATS, depending on the region) and hospital agencies (ASST, AOU). The discharge letter (lettera di dimissione) is written in standard blocks: "motivo del ricovero", "anamnesi", "esame obiettivo", "decorso clinico", "diagnosi di dimissione", "terapia consigliata". For a Georgian doctor this structure is understandable, but Italian medical text is saturated with abbreviations (PA, FC, EGA, TAC, RMN, ECG, PS) that do not match the international English ones (TAC is CT, RMN is MRI, PS is the emergency department) and must be fully expanded in the Georgian translation. Italian trade names of medicines (Tachipirina, Aulin, Brufen, Cardioaspirin) are not known in Georgia, and the international nonproprietary name is added in the translation.
Professional recognition: doctors, nurses, OSS
For a Georgian doctor to work in Italy, the Ministry of Health carries out recognition of the qualification (riconoscimento del titolo), for which the apostilled originals of the diploma, specialisation and practice documents, the consulate's declaration of value and consulate-certified translations are submitted; the ministry may impose compensatory measures (an exam or a traineeship). After recognition, registration with the professional order includes a check of Italian at B2 level. A nursing qualification in Italy is a three-year university course (laurea in infermieristica), and an hour-by-hour translation of the Georgian curriculum is decisive for the comparison. The caregiver qualification (OSS, operatore socio-sanitario) is obtained through a regional course, and a translation of the Georgian professional certificate helps with regional recognition. In the translation the stages of Georgian medical education must be explained in the terms of the Italian system (laurea magistrale a ciclo unico, scuola di specializzazione, abilitazione) without distorting the content.
Disability, INPS and legge 104
The Italian disability system is percentage-based: an INPS medical commission sets the percentage of civil disability (invalidità civile), on which benefits and allowances depend (indennità di accompagnamento for total disability), while Law 104/1992 ("legge 104") regulates the employment and social benefits of persons with disabilities and the family members caring for them. This system does not map one-to-one onto the Georgian disability groups (severe, significant, moderate). A Georgian medical-social examination report is translated into Italian for the INPS commission so that the diagnosis and functional limitation are unambiguous, and the group is explained with a note; in the opposite direction, an Italian "verbale di invalidità" is rendered descriptively for the Georgian Social Service Agency, keeping the percentage.
Pharmaceutical and medical device documentation
Italy is one of Europe's largest pharmaceutical producers, and Italian generics, biological products and medical devices (the pharmaceutical clusters of Lombardy and Lazio, the biomedical "valley" of Emilia-Romagna in Mirandola) go through registration on the Georgian market. The registration dossier an Italian company submits to the Georgian medicines agency rests on texts approved by AIFA (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco): the "riassunto delle caratteristiche del prodotto" (RCP), the "foglio illustrativo" for the patient, label text, and for devices the "dichiarazione di conformità UE" and "istruzioni per l'uso". Translating these texts allows zero degree of freedom: every term must be tied to the official Georgian and Italian equivalent of the European Medicines Agency, and shelf life, doses and storage conditions must be numerically unchanged. For medical devices from Mirandola (dialysis, infusion) the technical file often runs to hundreds of pages and is delivered in stages, with an approved terminology base. Clinical trial forms, where a Georgian centre works with an Italian sponsor, are translated in both directions, and the "consenso informato" is written in Georgian so that the ethics committee approves it by the "understandable to the patient" criterion.
Tax documents: codice fiscale, 730, CU
The flow of Italian-Georgian tax documents uses its own terminology: "codice fiscale" (the tax code every person in Italy has), "modello 730" and "modello Redditi" (income tax returns), "Certificazione Unica" (the employer's income certificate), "certificato di residenza fiscale" (certificate of tax residence under the double taxation agreement). These documents are translated into Georgian for the Georgian Revenue Service, a bank or a court, and Georgian tax certificates into Italian for the Agenzia delle Entrate. The Italian tax system ("IRPEF", "IVA", "IRES", "IMU") partly matches the Georgian one (VAT, profit tax, property tax), and the translation marks the difference with a note.
The consulate's line-by-line check as the quality standard
The Italian direction subjects quality control to one special "examiner": the Italian consulate in Tbilisi, which certifies the conformity of the translation, compares the Italian text with the Georgian original line by line, and any omission, wrongly transferred number or "approximately" translated term becomes grounds for refusing certification. So our internal control imitates exactly this check: a legal text is handled by a translator with legal training or many years of practice with Italian law, a medical one by a specialist in medical terminology who can consult an Italian or Georgian doctor; then a second specialist, "with the consulate's eyes", compares the translation with the original line by line, while revenue stamps, seals, cadastral numbers, clause numbering and doses are checked against a separate list. With long-term clients (wine exporters, Italian companies, clinics) a terminology base is built in which "visura", "procura", "lettera di dimissione" are always rendered with the same Georgian equivalent. Finally, a translator registered with a notary in the Italian-Georgian pair signs the document, and the apostille and consulate chain begins.
Regolamento UE 2016/679: Italian strictness on data
In Italy the data protection authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) is one of the most active regulators in Europe, and Italian clinics, lawyers and companies receiving Georgian documents often require that the translation process too meets the GDPR standard (in Italian, Regolamento UE 2016/679): medical data is a "special category", the basis and duration of processing must be documented, and transfer to a third party must be agreed. Our process answers these requirements: a confidentiality agreement on every order, encrypted channels for receiving documents, the translator's access only to their own document, anonymisation of medical histories at the client's wish (the name is not sent to the translator and is returned only in the final document), deletion of files on request after delivery. For an Italian client we also prepare, where needed, a written description of processing that their DPO or lawyer requests.
Typical documents in this field
- contratto di compravendita, di locazione, di lavoro, di distribuzione, and Georgian contracts into Italian
- visura camerale, statuto, atto costitutivo, verbale di assemblea, procura
- sentenza, decreto ingiuntivo, atto di citazione, ordinanza, verbale di udienza
- atto pubblico notarile, testamento, dichiarazione di successione, contratto di convivenza
- lettera di dimissione, cartella clinica, referto, esame istologico, relazione medica
- doctor's diploma, specializzazione, attestato di servizio for the recognition package
- verbale di invalidità, certificato di malattia, tessera sanitaria, esenzione
- RCP, foglio illustrativo, dichiarazione di conformità CE, consenso informato
Frequently asked questions
What does the second signature at the end of an Italian contract mean?
It is the separate approval of the "clausole vessatorie" under Article 1341 of the Civil Code: clauses on limitation of liability, choice of court and the like must be signed a second time. In the translation the block stays unchanged and a note explains its function.
How are the Italian "TAC" and "RMN" translated?
TAC is computed tomography (CT), RMN is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Italian medical abbreviations do not match the international ones and are fully expanded in the translation.
How many documents does a doctor's recognition package need?
Usually 8-12 documents, including the curriculum. We prepare the package as one project with one terminology base, while the apostille, the declaration of value and consular certification are separate deadlines.
What is the Italian "affidamento condiviso" in Georgian?
Shared custody, where both parents keep parental rights. In Italy this is the default regime, and for the Georgian system the translation adds an explanation.
Can you prepare the text of a power of attorney to be drawn up before an Italian notary?
Yes. Based on the Georgian notary's requirements we prepare a bilingual draft, which the Italian notary certifies, and the apostilled document is used directly in Georgia.
What is TFR in the Georgian system?
There is no direct analogue: it is an accumulated allowance paid at the end of employment. In the translation the concept is rendered descriptively and a note explains how the amount is calculated.
How long does the translation of an Italian sentenza take?
An Italian judgment is often 10-40 pages. Such a document is ready in 3-6 working days, and in urgent cases it is split among several translators with a shared terminology base.