Victorian Consolidated Regulations Victorian Consolidated Regulations(1) A person must not act as an interpreter in a proceeding unless the person—
(a) is currently an accredited interpreter for the spoken or signed language other than English concerned or otherwise satisfies the Court that the person is qualified to act as an interpreter; and
(b) has read and agreed to comply with the code of conduct; and
(c) takes an oath or affirms to interpret accurately to the best of the person's ability.
(2) A person must not act as an interpreter if the person—
(a) is or may become a party to, or a witness in, the proceeding; or
(b) is related to, or has a close personal relationship with, a party or a member of the party's family, or with a witness or potential witness; or
(c) has or may have a financial or other interest of any other kind in the outcome of the proceeding, other than an entitlement to a reasonable fee for the services provided by the interpreter in the course of the person's engagement or appointment; or
(d) is or may be unable to fulfil the person's duty of accuracy or impartiality under the code of conduct for any reason including, but not limited to, personal or religious beliefs or cultural or other circumstances.
(3) A person acting as an interpreter must—
(a) cease to act as an interpreter if the person becomes aware during a hearing of a matter referred to in paragraph (2); and
(b) immediately disclose the matter to the Court.
(4) Despite paragraphs (1) to (3), if it is in the interests of justice, the Court may give permission to a person to act as an interpreter despite not complying with the requirements of those paragraphs if, to the extent practicable—
(a) the Court is satisfied that the person is able to interpret and, if necessary, sight translate accurately to the level the Court considers satisfactory in all the circumstances from the other language into English and from English into the other language; and
(b) the person takes an oath or affirms to interpret accurately to the best of the person's ability; and
(c) the Court is satisfied that the person understands and accepts that, in acting as an interpreter, the person—
(i) is not the agent, assistant or advocate of the witness or the party for which the person is to act as an interpreter; and
(ii) owes a paramount duty to the court to be impartial and accurate to the best of the person's ability; and
(d) the Court directs that the evidence and interpretation be sound recorded for spoken languages and video recorded for signed languages; and
(e) the person is over the age of 18 years.