French is the language Gabon works in
Gabon reads French, so a certified translation into French in Newcastle upon Tyne is what makes an English record usable there. The French version has to be complete rather than convenient: the title line, the entry number, the district, the issuing office, the fee printed at the foot and the small print running along the edge. A desk that finds text on your English sheet and nothing matching it in French will treat the file as short.
Things that are not words
Half of what makes an official sheet official is not written in sentences. There is a wet signature, a dry embossed disc, a barcode, a punched hole, a security pattern in the paper. None of that turns into French, so each one is described in place instead. The result reads a little oddly on its own, and that is the point: it lets a reader in Libreville match the two sheets mark for mark without knowing any English.
The oath Gabon expects behind it
A sworn signature is required here. The translator has taken an oath and signs under that status, which moves the risk of a wrong word off you and onto the person who wrote it. This is why the statement of accuracy names the signer, carries a date, and is fastened to the pages it refers to. Loose sheets that arrive without it are simply French text, and French text on its own has no standing at a desk.
Rate per page and the clock
Price is counted in pages as issued at £25 each, so add up the sides of paper before you send them and the total is settled in advance. Time depends on what lands. From a sharp colour scan, standard work runs 2–4 business days and express finishes in 24–48 hours. A dim photograph taken on a phone is the usual reason a job slips, because every faint stamp then has to be re-checked before it can be described.
Worth doing before you scan
Lay the sheet flat, use daylight rather than a lamp overhead, and capture the whole page including the borders. Turn it over and scan the back even when it looks empty, because a stamp on the reverse is still part of the record. Where the copy you hold is faded or torn, Newcastle Register Office issues a fresh copy of a civil record and the work then starts from a page that can actually be read.