This chapter presents the translation competence model that is being worked on by the PACTE group and that is the basis for designing the hypotheses of an empirical-experimental study of translation competence. This research is the first stage in a larger project to investigate the process of translation competence acquisition. The first part of the chapter describes the theoretical framework and the first models that we designed in 1998. This is followed by a brief presentation of the design of the research project. The last part of the chapter deals with the modification introduced in the 1998 translation competence model as a result of the first exploratory studies.