AIIC defines professional secrecy as a total prohibition on the disclosure of any information acquired be members whilst working as interpreters at any meeting not open to the public. Article 2 of the Code of Professional Ethics states: “Members of the Association shall be bound by the strictest secrecy, which must be observed towards all persons and with regard to all information disclosed in the course of the practice of the profession at any gathering not open to the public.” Disclosure means the transmitting of information either in response to a question (passive disclosure) or on one’s own initiative (active disclosure). Disclosure may be oral, in writing, by fax or e-mail, or via any of the social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

In other words, we violate professional secrecy even if the other party undertakes to disclose nothing, even if the e-mail is considered private or marked “confidential”, even if the discussion group is not open to the public at large, even if only ten copies of the book were printed, and so on. It lets all secrets out of the bag – and then they are no longer secrets.

All persons means anyone, whether the person in question is someone we know or not, an individual or a group, and even if it is someone who in turn is under a duty of confidentiality (e.g. another interpreter). Passing information to just one person therefore constitutes a violation of professional secrecy – you don’t need to have told every Tom, Dick and Harry.

All information: the information need not be of major importance in absolute terms. We clearly understand that information that could affect a share price or the political future of a region is sensitive and must be well guarded.

Neither should we forget that one of the reasons for professional secrecy is the trust it creates between interpreter and clients, users and recruiters. They must all be absolutely confident that not one single word will pass the interpreter’s lips (outside the booth that is).

See: aiic