The territorial commissions for the recognition of international protection are the bodies within the Italian asylum system that decide whether an applicant should be granted refugee status, subsidiary protection, or special protection, or whether the application should be rejected. Their work is the most critical stage of the entire asylum process: a person’s future literally depends on the quality of the hearing and the accuracy of linguistic communication.
In this guide, we explain what the territorial commissions are, how the hearing is conducted, why interpreters and linguistic-cultural mediators are essential to the process, and what technical requirements the commissions impose on those who provide language services.
What Are the Territorial Commissions?
The territorial commissions are collegial bodies established within the prefectures and governed by Legislative Decree 25/2008 (transposing the EU Procedures Directive) and subsequent amendments. There are currently twenty commissions throughout the country, distributed to cover their respective geographic areas of jurisdiction, with branch offices in numerous cities to manage the heavy workload.
Each commission consists of four members: a career prefectural official who chairs the commission, a State Police officer, a representative of the local government designated by the State-City Conference, and a representative of the UNHCR. The chairperson is responsible for conducting the hearing, and the commission deliberates collectively; however, in practice, it is increasingly common for the hearing to be conducted solely by the chairperson or a delegated official, with the decision subsequently made by the full commission.
The commissions are coordinated at the national level by the National Commission for the Right to Asylum, established within the Ministry of the Interior, which standardizes their activities through guidelines, common training, and the collection of Country of Origin Information (COI)—the information on countries of origin necessary to assess the merits of applications.
The Asylum Seeker’s Journey: From Expressing Intent to the Hearing
When a person arrives in Italy and expresses the intent to seek protection, they submit their application to the competent police headquarters, which prepares the so-called Form C3—the formal record of the request for international protection. Form C3 contains the applicant’s personal information and an initial brief statement of the reasons for the request.
From that point on, the case is forwarded to the relevant territorial commission, which summons the applicant for a personal hearing. Months may pass between the submission of the application and the hearing, or—during periods of particularly high caseload—even more than a year. In recent years, several regulatory measures have been introduced to speed up the process: today, in certain cases, hearings are required to take place within set time limits through expedited or border procedures.
At the end of the hearing, minutes are drawn up, which the applicant is required to sign. The commission generally reaches a decision in the following weeks and communicates the outcome via notification.
Why the Interpreter Is an Essential Part of the Process
In the vast majority of cases, the applicant does not speak Italian. The hearing therefore takes place with the assistance of an interpreter, often in less common languages such as Tigrinya, Amharic, Pashto, Dari, Urdu, Bengali, Wolof, and Mandinka, and only rarely in international languages such as English and French. The interpreter does more than simply translate words: in this context, they serve as the channel through which the applicant’s entire ability to tell their story is conveyed.
An inaccurate translation can irreparably compromise the outcome of the proceedings. Interpretation errors regarding dates, chronological sequences, or the names of places or organizations can create apparent inconsistencies that the commissions interpret as indicators of low credibility. For this reason, interpreting before a territorial commission requires very specific skills: technical mastery of the language, knowledge of procedural terminology, understanding of the geopolitical context of the country of origin, the ability to maintain neutrality and impartiality between the parties, and the emotional management of accounts that often involve violence, torture, and bereavement.
The Ministry of the Interior and the National Commission for the Right to Asylum require that anyone working as an interpreter have specific training for this context. The EUAA—the European Union Agency for Asylum—has developed specific training standards for court interpreting, which are compiled in its training catalog and in technical publications dedicated to the Common European Asylum System.
The Role of Linguistic and Cultural Mediation
At certain stages of the procedure, especially in situations of particular vulnerability—such as unaccompanied minors, victims of human trafficking, people with mental health conditions, and women who have survived gender-based violence—the presence of a linguistic and cultural mediator is required. Mediation does not replace interpretation: it works alongside institutions to facilitate mutual understanding, contextualize cultural references, and identify signs of vulnerability that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Cultural mediation is a service distinct from interpreting because it requires an active role in interpreting the context, not just the language. Effective mediation requires knowledge of kinship systems, religious practices, belief systems, gender dynamics, and codes of silence or modesty typical of the client’s culture of origin. It means being able to distinguish when silence stems from embarrassment, when from trauma, and when from a narrative strategy learned along the way.
Technical requirements for language service providers
The territorial commissions and the Ministry of the Interior procure interpreting and mediation services through public tenders. Unlike European agencies such as the EUAA, which typically operate under framework agreements among multiple qualified economic operators, in the case of the territorial commissions, the provision of services is generally awarded through a single contract, which is then broken down into individual implementation contracts. The minimum technical requirements typically requested include:
- ISO 17100:2017 Certification for Professional Translation Services
- ISO 9001:2015 certification for quality management
- Availability of native-speaking interpreters with documented qualifications and experience in the asylum sector in the required languages
- Availability nationwide, even on short notice
- Procedures for the selection, training, and ongoing professional development of interpreters
- Systems for safeguarding confidentiality and protecting personal data in compliance with the GDPR
- Code of Ethics and procedures for managing potential conflicts of interest
ITM and the Territorial Commissions System
ITM has been operating for more than 20 years in the field of language services for the Italian and European asylum systems. Our UNI EN ISO 9001:2015 and UNI EN ISO 17100:2017 certifications allow us to participate in public administration tenders. Our network of over 10,000 native-speaking professionals, spread throughout Europe, consistently covers even rare languages and those of contemporary migration flows. We provide certified and recognized specialized training for professional interpreters and translators to support the territorial commissions. We serve as a key partner for national institutions and European Union agencies active in the field of asylum.
