It is one of the questions that comes up the moment a client starts thinking about the paperwork: "What if I need the translation in two places at once? Do I have to pay for two translations?" The answer hinges on a detail almost nobody has clear at the start: a PDF copy is not the same thing as a paper copy. And now that the electronic signature is fully official, that distinction changes the whole way the problem is framed.
On paper: every stamped copy is an original
Start with the traditional format, because it is the one that breeds confusion. A sworn translation on paper acquires its official character when the translator certifies it with signature and seal and attaches a copy of the original, stamped and dated on every page. That is the requirement of Royal Decree 724/2020, which governs the Office for Language Interpretation of Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The practical consequence matters: on paper, each signed and sealed copy is an original in its own right. There is no such thing as "the good copy and the photocopies". If you run a sworn translation through the photocopier down the street, that sheet does not count as a sworn translation, because it lacks the translator's handwritten signature and seal on that particular copy.
So when someone needs several physical copies —one for the registry, one for the university, one to keep— you do not make photocopies: the translator issues several copies, each with its own original signature and seal. In practice you request them when placing the order, because producing three copies in the same run is straightforward, whereas coming back weeks later for a duplicate means retrieving the file, reprinting, sealing and signing again, and often shipping it a second time by courier.
The signed PDF: the copy stops being a problem
This is where the electronic signature rewrites the rules. Since Order AUC/213/2025, in force from 8 March 2025, a sworn translator may certify translations with a qualified electronic signature, which replaces the physical seal through a standardised text box carrying the translator's name, working languages and registration number. The Order itself clarifies that this electronic signature may substitute, but does not exclude or invalidate, the traditional certification by handwritten signature and physical seal.
What does that mean for copies? That the paper problem disappears. An electronically signed PDF is not a single object you have to guard: it is a file you can submit as many times as you need, before as many bodies as you like, without any submission "using up" the document. Each time you hand it over, you hand over the same signed PDF, carrying the same valid, verifiable signature.
And verifiable in earnest: whoever receives the file can check the electronic signature in an official validator —the Ministry points to valide.redsara.es— and confirm the translator's identity, the integrity of the document and the date of the act. That check works the same on day one as on the tenth time, whether you present it to a civil registry in Málaga or a university in Alicante. There is no original and copy: there is one signed file, and all its submissions are equally valid.
When you genuinely need more than one copy
With both pieces on the table, the question almost answers itself. Think about duplicates when:
- You are submitting on paper to a body that keeps the copy. Many registries and offices file the document they receive and never return it. If you need to keep one for yourself or present it elsewhere too, order the copies you will need from the outset.
- You have several simultaneous paper procedures. Two different authorities that each require a physical submission, running in parallel, are simply two original copies.
- One body demands paper while another accepts digital. Nothing forces you to pick a single format: use the signed PDF where it is accepted and keep the paper copy for whoever asks for it.
And when you do not need one: if all your recipients accept the electronic format —more and more of them do— you need no duplicate at all. A single signed PDF serves them all, today and two years from now, especially since a sworn translation does not expire.
Let us be honest: the PDF is usually enough
Neither RD 724/2020 nor Order AUC/213/2025 caps the number of copies a translator may issue, nor does either make one format "more official" than the other. What changes is the logistics. The electronically signed PDF almost always sidesteps the copy problem, because a file can be submitted endlessly without degrading. Paper still has its place for the body that continues to demand it, or for the procedure carried out in person before an official who wants to touch the seal.
Our advice: start from the signed PDF and add paper copies only where you know they will be required. Before ordering three duplicates just in case, check how many recipients accept the digital format; you will spare yourself more than one.
At Textualia we deliver the translation by default as an electronically signed PDF, verifiable and reusable before every body that accepts it, and we issue copies on official stamped paper for those who need them. If you later need an extra copy, we retrieve your file and issue it without redoing the work. You can see which format suits each procedure in our documents hub, and if you want to understand how an electronic signature is checked, we walk through it step by step in verifying the electronic signature of a sworn translation.