Your documents stay yours.
Clients send us medical records, evidence, unsigned contracts and personal identity documents. This page sets out exactly how that material is handled, who can see it, how long we keep it and how to have it deleted.
Six practices that apply to every engagement
NDAs at both ends
A confidentiality agreement covers our work for you from the first file, before any document is opened. Separately, every translator, interpreter and transcriber on our roster signs a binding confidentiality agreement as a condition of receiving work. We will sign your own NDA or business associate agreement instead of, or in addition to, ours.
Access on a need to know basis
Your material reaches the project manager handling the job and the specific linguists assigned to it. Nobody else on the roster sees it, files are not circulated for general review, and linguists receive only the documents for their own assignment.
Encrypted transfer
Uploads through this site travel over HTTPS. We can receive files through your own secure portal if you have one, and we can arrange encrypted email or a password protected archive for material you do not want sitting in an inbox.
Health information
Interpreters and transcribers working on clinical material are trained on HIPAA obligations covering protected health information: what it is, why it must not leave the engagement and how to handle it. A business associate agreement is available on request for covered entities.
Retention and deletion
Files are held only as long as the project requires and for the short period afterwards in which clients typically ask for a reissue or a correction. After that they are deleted. You can ask for deletion at any time, including immediately on delivery, and we confirm when it is done.
No machine training
Your content is never used to train machine translation systems, language models or any other automated tool, by us or by anyone we work with. Client material is used to complete the client's project and for nothing else.
When ordinary care is not enough
Some matters need more than a standard confidentiality posture. Tell us at the quote stage and we will adapt how the project runs rather than applying a default.
Redact before you send
If a name, account number or identifier is not needed for the translation to be accurate, remove it before sending. We can work from a redacted source and you keep the sensitive detail entirely out of our hands.
Split a document across linguists
For a matter where no single outside person should see the whole picture, we can divide the source so that each linguist works on a portion, with the project manager assembling the result.
Named linguist restrictions
If a matter involves parties who must not be connected to your work, send us the names to screen against and we will confirm that nobody assigned has a conflict. We will also honour a request that a specific linguist not be used.
No copy retention
Ask for immediate deletion on delivery and we will delete every copy as soon as you confirm receipt, with no retention period and no translation memory entry. Be aware this means we cannot reissue the document later.
Interpretation without recording
For remote interpretation we do not record sessions. If your platform records by default, tell the interpreter and we will note that no copy is held on our side.
Asking us what we hold, and asking us to delete it
How to make a request
Email info@layaabservices.com from the address you used to contact us, and say what you want. You can ask us to:
- Tell you what material of yours we currently hold
- Send you a copy of it
- Correct information that is wrong
- Delete the files and confirm when it is done
- Stop contacting you
We reply to these requests within a few working days. Our privacy policy covers personal data in full.
If something goes wrong
No provider can promise that nothing will ever go wrong. What we can commit to is how we would respond.
- We investigate any suspected exposure immediately, before deciding how serious it is
- We tell affected clients directly and promptly, with what we know and what we do not yet know
- We say what material was involved rather than describing the incident in vague terms
- We tell you what we changed so it does not happen again
- We support any notification you are required to make to a regulator or to individuals
A few honest points about how this works
Email is not secure by default
Ordinary email is convenient and it is how most work reaches us, but it is not a secure channel in itself. For sensitive material use the upload form on this site, your own portal, or ask us for a password protected archive.
Linguists work remotely
Our translators and interpreters are professionals working from their own locations around the world. They are bound by NDA, they receive only their own assignment, and they are told what handling a file requires. We are telling you this because it is how the industry works and you should know it, not discover it.
Certified documents leave a trail
A certified translation exists to be shown to an authority, so by its nature it will be seen by people outside your control once you file it. Plan what goes into the source accordingly, and redact anything the receiving body does not need.
Ask us anything about how your material is handled
If you have a specific security requirement, a business associate agreement to sign or a matter that needs unusual care, raise it before you send files and we will tell you plainly what we can and cannot do.