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A sworn translator is someone who has sworn or promised in a court that they will make good and accurate translations. The primary object of a sworn translation is to faithfully reflect the source text. There is no room for any freedom in the interpretation of the text or the correction of manifest errors.
The court verifies whether the translator should be expected to be capable of making such a translation. In the Netherlands, anyone with a university degree in English and anyone who has obtained a diploma in translation from an institute of higher professional education will be accepted by the court. Everyone else will have to prove to the satisfaction of the court that they are good enough. I myself submitted the degree I obtained in England and a letter of recommendation from my then employer and these sufficed. It is also possible to take an exam in order to qualify.
Personally, I think one should not expect a sworn translation to be synonymous with obtaining a good quality text. I know of quite a few people who do have all the required qualifications and who are still not good as translators. On the other hand, I also know people with very few qualifications, who produce excellent texts. In the end, people have to have a real good feel for languages if they are to translate well. Translation is an art. The fact that someone is a sworn translator is really no more than a rough guide, if you cannot assess quality yourself.
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