Why Translation Matters in Border Screening: A Translation Studies Perspective on the EU Screening Regulation (Reading Regulation (EU) 2024/1356 with the tools of Translation Studies)

Abstract

From 12 June 2026, every external border of the European Union will operate a uniform screening procedure for irregularly entering third-country nationals, lasting between three and seven days, at the end of which each person is oriented towards an asylum procedure, a return procedure, or a refusal of entry. The procedure is governed by Regulation (EU) 2024/1356 of 14 May 2024. This article approaches the procedure as a Translation Studies researcher would. It explains, step by step, why the screening cannot be properly understood without translational concepts, and what those concepts contribute. The argument is presented didactically; it assumes no prior familiarity with translation theory and works through, in plain terms, the questions a translation scholar asks of an institutional procedure mediated by interpreters. The article culminates in three dimensions and eight evaluative considerations – each developed at length – that monitoring bodies, courts and policy designers may find useful when assessing the translational quality of a screening operation. The eight considerations are presented not as an instrument to be applied, but as a structural argument about what Translation Studies has to say. These three dimensions and eight evaluative considerations should pave the way for a future modelisation of a translation studies and fundamental rights compliant screening procedure.