NAATI’s mission is to set and maintain high national standards for the translating and interpreting sector to ensure a supply of certified professionals to meet the changing needs of Australia’s culturally and linguistically diverse society.
We are committed to providing high quality service as part of our mission to deliver a national certification system for the translating and interpreting sector. If you believe that we (or one of our certified translators and interpreters) have not delivered in any one particular area, we would like to hear your comments.
Complaints are an important part of reviewing our policies and processes, maintaining and improving our standards and performance. This policy is intended to provide a guide to how NAATI handles complaints made to it.
NAATI considers a complaint to be a description of your problem and all the steps you’ve taken so far to resolve it before reaching the point where you no longer know how to proceed.
If your complaint is about a certified translator or interpreter, the first step is to contact the practitioner to explain the problem and how you would like it fixed. An explanation is required if this is not feasible and you should consider local state consumer protections if your complaint regards poor business practices. If you are still having difficulty resolving a problem, then you may want to seek NAATI’s assistance.
If your complaint is about the results or your test (or assessment), the first step is to request a paid review of your result. NAATI will not enter correspondence about test or assessment results outside of this process.
Complaints should be made in English and emailed to info@naati.com.au. We are able to accept video or audio complaints where the written form is not possible.
Complaints can be made confidentially but this may constrain us from investigating and resolving the complaint. We will contact you if this is the case.
NAATI does not have investigative powers or the ability to compel independent practitioners, businesses, or governments to act in a certain way. Our jurisdiction is limited to the awarding and revocation of credentials awarded by us, and therefore we will not normally investigate complaints that are based on hearsay or do not contain specific information or verifiable evidence with a high level of proof. Again, we will contact you to discuss this if this is the case.
Any complaints that are sent directly to the NAATI Board of Directors, will be referred back to NAATI National Office (via the CEO) for investigation.
Broadly, NAATI uses the following principles (adapted from ISO/IEC 17024) to guide our handling of complaints:
In terms of the specific process we follow to deal with a complaint, please see section 5.
Once NAATI has received your complaint, in the first five business days, we will:
The table below details the categories we use to classify your complaint and our timeframes resolving it.
If your complaint is classified as a Level 2, NAATI will:
Where a Level 2 complaint involves a certified translator and/or interpreter, NAATI will:
We may also counsel or recommend specific professional development as a consequence of resolving the complaint. In some cases, NAATI will not provide details to the complainant of exactly what disciplinary action is taken.
If your complaint is classified as a Level 3, NAATI will:
Where a Level 3 complaint involves a certified translator and/or interpreter, NAATI will:
Possible disciplinary actions NAATI can take include:
Where disciplinary proceedings occur, NAATI will ensure procedural fairness is accorded to that person. In some cases, NAATI will not provide details to the complainant of exactly what disciplinary action is taken.
If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you can write to us outlining any supporting evidence that was not considered. However, if there is no new information available, you cannot appeal the decision.
Complaint appeals will be handled by a different staff member that was not involved in the original investigation.
NAATI maintains a detailed register that is regularly analysed by senior management with reporting provided to the NAATI Board of Directors. We may also adjust our processes and procedures as needed to prevent problems reoccurring.
Where a complaint has been made by a certified translator and/or interpreter, NAATI may also record information about the outcome of the complaint on other operational systems (including our credentialing management system). This information is not publicly accessible.
This policy is to be reviewed by NAATI management in line with the Schedule of Policies approved by the Audit and Risk Committee.
Policy approved by the NAATI Board, 3 May 2019 (149/6.4).