First, the question of anti-trust liability Ms. Knapp asserts that the Association would have anti-trust exposure, based on legal arguments in a book. In fact anti-trust caselaw exists, and a threshold of 25 to 30% is generally accepted as the bar for restraint of trade allegations. ATA paying consultants to keep stirring up this unsupported idea of legal exposure is tantamount to scare tactics.

This issue has been answered repeatedly, in particular in this same edition of the Chronicle by Mike Magee, CT: With ATA certified members comprising 3.8% of US translation practitioners and less than 0.5% of translators worldwide (our exam is offered internationally, of course), anti-trust/restriction of trade issues are far below any relevant threshold (generally the restricting party must represent 25-30% of the market).

This consultant does not present a single new argument on the decoupling issue. She does go on at length about what credentialing professionals think, but they do not know our market and our profession.

Other of the ATA Board’s arguments in favor of decoupling were soundly challenged and debunked in two opinion pieces appearing in the Jan./Feb. 2020 Chronicle (), one of which I authored, and the other was by Jessica Hartstein (pp. 12-16).

Additionally, ATA barely gives lip service to ethics enforcement now against those who fraudulently claim the “CT” credential. What means of enforcement will be available once substandard practitioners throughout the world are wrongfully claiming certification? None whatsoever. It now takes months, even years, to get dishonest language practitioners to cease claiming ATA certification when these cases are brought to ATA’s attention. In many cases, they never manage to get the miscreants to remove “ATA certified” from their online profiles, some of which appear in directories of other translation organizations.

In the 32 years since I earned ATA certification in my first language combination not a single customer has seen that I am an ATA member and then questioned whether my certification was worthwhile. Membership is a continued source of pride for us, and a significant contributing factor to the high status our credential holds among buyers of foreign language translation services. Look for your ballot in early September, and vote “No” on the Board’s Bylaws Amendment proposal regarding decoupling.

Robert Sette, CT
Denver, CO
Candidate for ATA Board of Directors