Translate terms and conditions of sale into Italian

What changes when terms of sale move into Italian

Italian runs at roughly the same length as French and slightly longer than English, so your clauses will occupy similar space on the page. The real difficulties lie in legal concepts with no word-for-word equivalent.

• Deposit: in English the word is ambiguous. A deposit that lets either party withdraw by forfeiting it is close to a caparra penitenziale; a part-payment towards the price is an acconto. Rendering both as caparra would change what the clause does.
• Right of withdrawal / cooling-off period: diritto di recesso, with the period stated in days (entro 14 giorni).
• Legal guarantee of conformity: garanzia legale di conformità, distinct from a commercial warranty (garanzia convenzionale).
• Jurisdiction clause: foro competente; penalty clause: clausola penale; retention of title: riserva di proprietà.

Italian terms of sale refer to the parties in the third person, capitalised: il Venditore, il Cliente, l'Acquirente. Where your source addresses the customer as ‘you’, the formal Lei register is used, never the familiar tu.

Clausole vessatorie: what translation will not do for you

Under Italian law, articles 1341 and 1342 of the Civil Code require certain clauses in standard terms, known as clausole vessatorie, to be specifically approved in writing by the other party: limitation of liability, a right to terminate, tacit renewal, arbitration clauses and departures from the courts' jurisdiction, among others. Hence the Italian practice of a second signature beneath a list of those clauses, the ‘doppia firma’.

A faithful translation of terms written for another country will not contain that paragraph if your original does not. Manuce translates the text you upload; it does not add or remove clauses, nor check their validity under Italian law or the Codice del Consumo.

• References to your own legislation (for example section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015) are translated as cited, not swapped for Italian articles.
• If you sell to consumers resident in Italy, the mandatory rules protecting them apply whatever governing law you choose: have the Italian version reviewed by a lawyer before publishing it.
• Include a clause stating which language version prevails; if it is in your original, it will be translated (in caso di discordanza prevale la versione inglese).

What Manuce delivers, and what it does not

Your terms are handled by Themis, Manuce's engine specialised in law. A quote appears as soon as you upload the file, based on the exact word count; for terms of around 3,000 words (8 pages), the translation is delivered within minutes and kept in your client area.

• Accepted formats: Word, PDF, PowerPoint, Excel, plain text, Markdown, HTML, RTF and CSV. The file comes back in its original format: clause numbering, bold text, delivery-charge tables and footers stay where they were.
• Free extract: before you pay, one paragraph of your file is translated at the level you choose. Pick the withdrawal or deposit clause to judge the terminology.
• Level: for terms published on an Italian website, Professional or Premium is better suited than Essential, which is designed for understanding a text internally.

What Manuce does not do: it cannot read a scanned PDF (an image with no selectable text), and it does not produce sworn or certified translations. If an Italian court or authority requires a traduzione asseverata, you will need an authorised translator.

Preparing the file before upload

A few minutes of preparation saves most corrections afterwards.

1. Upload the native source: the Word file rather than a printed PDF. If all you have is a scan, re-export it with selectable text.
2. Accept or reject tracked changes and delete internal comments, so that only the final wording is translated.
3. Make defined terms consistent: if the source alternates between ‘the Customer’ and ‘the Buyer’, the Italian will alternate between il Cliente and l'Acquirente.
4. Check cross-references: a hand-typed ‘see clause 7.2’ will not follow renumbering. Automatic numbering is safer.
5. Review company details: company name, legal form, registration number and address stay as they are; translation should not ‘Italianise’ them.

Checks on the Italian version

When the file arrives, review first the points where an error would cost most.

• Amounts: Italian writes 1.500,00 €, with a full stop for thousands and a comma for decimals. Make sure prices and penalties have not changed value, especially if your source used 1,500.00.
• Periods and plurals: 1 giorno but 14 giorni; with millions, 1 milione di euro. A badly agreed time limit stands out on review.
• Accented capitals: at the start of a sentence or in an upper-case heading, Italian writes È, not E' with an apostrophe.
• Defined terms: il Venditore must keep the same form from the first clause to the last.
• Sensitive clauses: deposits, warranties, limitation of liability, jurisdiction. Compare them with the original before passing the text to your lawyer.

If a product or brand name must stay in the source language, check it first in the free extract, then in the full translation.

In practice

1. Export your terms as a Word file or a PDF with selectable text, with tracked changes resolved.
2. Upload the file, choose Italian and read the quote based on the exact word count.
3. Request the free extract and check the translation of a sensitive clause such as withdrawal or deposits.
4. Pay, then download the Italian file in its original format within minutes.
5. Have a lawyer review the Italian version before publication, particularly the clausole vessatorie.