Do You Need a Certified Articles of Association Translation for Companies House?

If the document you are filing is in any language other than English, Companies House expects a complete English translation with a signed certificate of accuracy attached. If it is already in English, or you are using the model articles, you need nothing extra.

That single distinction decides whether an articles of association translation for Companies House is a genuine requirement or an unnecessary cost — and it is the question we answer for directors, company secretaries and formation agents every week at Business Translations UK.

Most of the filings that reach us come from the same place: an overseas parent registering a UK establishment, or a UK subsidiary adopting group articles that were drafted abroad and never produced in English. In those cases the registrar cannot register a constitution it cannot read, and the filing is returned.

Here is what makes this worth ten minutes of your time. Constitutional documents are rarely rejected because the English was poor. They are rejected because a schedule was left out, a certificate of accuracy was missing, or a director’s name was spelled two different ways across the bundle. Those are process failures, and every one of them is preventable before you submit.

Below, we set out which filings actually trigger the requirement, exactly what the registrar expects to see attached, where notarisation and apostilles genuinely apply, and the six faults that send incorporations back to the start.

When An Articles Of Association Translation For Companies House Is Actually Required

The registrar works in English. Welsh companies may file in Welsh, but almost everything else must arrive in English or be accompanied by a translation certified as accurate. That single rule explains every scenario below.

Registering A Uk Establishment For An Overseas Parent Company

This is the biggest trigger by far. When a foreign company opens a UK branch or establishment, the registrar asks for a certified copy of that company’s constitutional documents — its charter, statutes, memorandum and articles, or whatever the equivalent is called in that jurisdiction. If those papers are in Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin or anything other than English, a certified translation must go in with them.

📌 This catches people out because they assume the UK subsidiary incorporation document translation is optional. It is not. The registrar cannot register a constitution it cannot read.

Filing Articles That Were Drafted Outside The Uk

Sometimes a UK-incorporated company adopts bespoke articles written by lawyers abroad, in the parent’s working language. Group templates get reused across countries, and the English version never gets made. If you are filing those articles — on incorporation or later, after a members’ resolution changes them — the English version is what the register holds.

When No Articles Of Association Translation Is Needed

We would rather tell you to save your money than sell you something you do not need. You almost certainly do not need a translation if:

• ✔ You are forming a standard UK limited company using the model articles
• ✔ Your articles were drafted in English by a UK solicitor or formation agent
• ✔ Your only foreign-language paperwork is internal and never goes to the registrar
• ✔ Your document is bilingual, with a full English column already present

💡 In our experience, roughly one in four enquiries about certified translation for Companies House filing turns out to fall into this group. Send us the file first and we will tell you plainly.

What Companies House Expects Inside A Certified Articles Of Association Translation

A rejection is rarely about translation quality. It is about what is missing around the translation. Here is what has to be there.

• ✔ Every word, in full. Complete means complete. Recitals, schedules, tables, appendices, signature blocks, registration stamps and handwritten notes all get rendered. Nothing is summarised, nothing is skipped because it looks like boilerplate.
• ✔ A certificate of accuracy. A signed statement confirming the translation is a true and accurate rendering of the attached original, dated, with the translator’s or provider’s name and contact details.
• ✔ A visible link to the source. The translation must clearly connect to the exact document it came from, so a reviewer can hold the two side by side without guessing.
• ✔ Matching layout. Clauses keep their original numbering. Article 14 in the original stays article 14 in English. This matters more than people expect, because the registrar and your solicitor will both cross-reference by number.
• ✔ Consistent transliteration. Company names, director names and place names must be spelled identically to every other document in your bundle, including your certificate of incorporation translation.
• ✔ Stamps and seals described, not ignored. A notary’s seal or a foreign registry stamp is content. It gets noted and translated, not left as a blank space.

The registrar publishes its requirements and updates them, so we always recommend confirming the current position for your specific filing route before you submit.

Certified Vs Notarised Articles Of Association Translation: Which One Does Your Filing Need?

These two get used interchangeably in conversation, and that confusion is expensive. They do different jobs.

➔ The practical rule: start with certified. Add notarisation only when a named party has asked for it in writing. We have seen companies pay for notarised articles of association translation nobody requested, purely because a forum post said to.

Apostilles follow the same logic. An apostille authenticates the original foreign public document under the Hague Convention. It rarely attaches to the translation itself. If your parent company’s constitution needs legalising in its home country, that step happens there, before translation — get the order wrong and you pay twice.

Documents Filed Alongside The Articles That Also Need Translating

The articles seldom travel alone. When we quote a company registration document translation UK job, we ask for the whole bundle, because a mismatch between two documents is a rejection waiting to happen.

Commonly filed together:

1. Certificate of incorporation or equivalent registry extract from the home jurisdiction
2. Memorandum of association, where the jurisdiction still issues one separately
3. Board resolutions or minutes authorising the UK establishment
4. Director and secretary appointment papers, plus identity documents
5. Powers of attorney appointing a UK representative
6. Company bylaws or internal regulations, where they sit outside the articles

We handle these as one project through our corporate document translation services, so the director names, share classes and company names read identically across every page. Where shareholder agreements or joint venture papers form part of the same corporate move, our legal contract translation specialists keep the defined terms aligned with the constitution.

How We Handle A Certified Articles Of Association Translation, Step By Step

Our process is simple, and it is built around your filing date rather than ours.

1. You send the file. Scan, photo or PDF. We check legibility, page count and whether anything is cut off before quoting.
2. We confirm what you actually need. Certified only, or certified plus notarised. We tell you if we think you need less than you asked for.
3. We assign a legal-corporate specialist. Someone who works in constitutional documents daily and translates into their mother tongue.
4. We rebuild the layout. Clause numbering, tables and schedules are reconstructed to mirror the original, so nothing has to be hunted for.
5. Our editors run a second pass. Names, dates, share figures and numbering are checked against the source, character by character.
6. We issue the certificate of accuracy and deliver a submission-ready PDF, with hard copies where your route needs them.
7. We stand behind it. If the registrar queries the wording or formatting, we correct it at no cost until it is accepted.

Why Articles Of Association Translations Get Rejected, And How We Prevent It

Over the years, the same handful of faults come back again and again:

• ❌ Partial translation. A schedule left out because it “was just a list of shareholders”.
• ❌ Missing certification. A clean translation with no accuracy statement attached to it.
• ❌ Name drift. A director spelled three ways across three documents in one bundle.
• ❌ Renumbered clauses. The English version reordered for readability, so cross-references no longer match.
• ❌ Machine output tidied by hand. Fluent-sounding English that quietly changes the meaning of a quorum or share transfer clause.
• ❌ Wrong sequence. Translating first, then discovering the original needed an apostille, forcing a full redo.

We check for every one of these before anything leaves us, because a rejected filing does not just cost a fee — it moves your incorporation date, your bank account opening and sometimes your investor timeline.

Frequently Asked Questions About Articles Of Association Translation For Companies House

Can I Translate My Own Articles Of Association For Companies House?

We would advise against it, even if your English is excellent. A translation supporting a statutory filing needs an independent certification of accuracy. Self-certified work from a director of the filing company invites a challenge you do not want mid-incorporation.

Does A Certified Articles Of Association Translation Expire?

The translation itself does not carry an expiry date. But if you amend your articles by resolution, the old translation no longer reflects the current constitution and the amended version needs translating before it is filed.

Do I Need To Translate The Whole Document Or Just The Relevant Clauses?

The whole document. Selective translation of “the important parts” is one of the most common reasons a constitutional filing is returned. The registrar needs the complete instrument in English.

How Quickly Can A Certified Translation For A Companies House Filing Be Produced?

It depends on length, language pair and whether notarisation is involved. Constitutions are usually short enough for a fast turnaround, and we offer urgent handling when your filing date is fixed. Tell us the deadline and we will confirm honestly whether we can meet it.

Will Companies House Accept A Translation Done By A Uk Solicitor’S Own Staff?

Often yes, if it is complete and properly certified. The issue is rarely who did it and almost always whether the certification, completeness and formatting requirements were met.

My Articles Are Already Bilingual. Do I Still Need A Translation?

Usually not, provided the English column is complete and covers every clause and schedule. Send it to us and we will check whether anything is missing before you rely on it.

Before You File: Getting Your Articles Of Association Translation For Companies House Right

A returned filing is rarely a translation problem. It is a preparation problem, and it is visible at the quoting stage — before anything reaches the registrar.

The three-point check we run on every incorporation bundle:

• ✔ Complete — every schedule, appendix, stamp and signature block, not just the clauses that look important
• ✔ Certified — a signed, dated certificate of accuracy, clearly linked to the source document
• ✔ Consistent — director names, company names and share figures spelled identically across every paper in the bundle

📌 Send us the document and we will confirm whether a certified translation is genuinely required for your filing route, whether notarisation applies, and the correct sequence if an apostille is involved. Where the answer is that you need nothing, we say so — around a quarter of these enquiries end that way.

You get back a straight yes or no, a fixed price in writing before work starts, a delivery date set against your incorporation deadline, and free correction if the registrar queries anything.

➔ Send my incorporation documents for a filing check — attach the articles and anything filed alongside them, tell us your submission date, and we will come back with an answer you can plan around.