The Infringement Package and the Missing 'Transposition'
You are translating from French into English a Commission press release announcing infringement proceedings. The French text says the Member State has failed to notify 'les mesures de transposition' of Directive 2019/… and has also failed to adopt 'les mesures d’exécution' required by Regulation 2020/… . The English press-release template uses 'transposition measures' throughout, but a legal-service colleague warns that the same template will be used for both instruments. One template sentence reads: 'The Commission calls on [Member State] to notify its transposition measures within two months.' The release must be issued in all EU languages at noon; you have 90 minutes. The source also uses 'manquement' and 'mise en demeure'. You cannot change the template structure, only the terminology in your language version. The press release will be read by journalists and national officials.
1. How should you render 'mesures de transposition' and 'mesures d’exécution' so that the distinction survives in English, given the template’s repeated use of 'transposition measures'?
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Use transposition measures for the directive and implementation measures - or, more fully, measures implementing the Regulation - for the regulation. The legal difference is not stylistic: a directive must be transposed into national law, whereas a regulation is directly applicable and is implemented or applied by Member States. Rendering both as 'transposition measures' would suggest that the regulation also requires transposition and would misstate the infringement. Avoid 'execution measures', which is a literal calque and not the normal EU English term. Because the template repeats 'transposition measures', adapt only where the referent is the regulation and flag the template defect to the desk. Consistency should not be purchased at the price of legal accuracy.
2. The source uses 'manquement' and 'mise en demeure'. Propose English equivalents and explain what procedural stage the press release is describing.
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Render manquement as infringement or, where the sentence needs the full concept, failure to fulfil an obligation. Render mise en demeure as letter of formal notice. The press release is describing the pre-litigation stage of the Article 258 TFEU procedure: the Commission identifies a failure and gives the Member State a deadline to respond. 'Mise en demeure' is not simply a 'formal demand' in the general commercial sense; in EU infringement language it is the formal notice that opens the administrative phase. The translation should make clear whether the Commission has sent the letter or is calling on the State to act, because journalists will otherwise report the stage inaccurately. Check the tense of the French source before choosing between 'has sent a letter of formal notice' and 'calls on the Member State to notify'.
3. You have 90 minutes and cannot change the template. What do you do about the template sentence that says 'notify its transposition measures' when the instrument is a regulation?
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Do not silently reproduce the error. In your language version, use a minimal, accurate adaptation for the regulation: 'notify the measures implementing the Regulation' or 'notify its implementation measures'. Then send a same-day query to the template owner and legal service saying that the fixed sentence is accurate for the directive but not for the regulation, and that you have adapted it in your version. If the template cannot be changed at all, add a bracketed translator’s query for internal clearance, not for publication: '[template: transposition measures - check against regulation]'. The publication deadline does not justify leaving a legal misstatement in an official press release, but the fix should be narrow and recorded so that other language versions can align.