DISTINGUISH BETWEEN COPIES, NOTARIZATION, AUTHENTICATION, AND CONSULAR LEGALIZATION

by Admin

01/02/2024

Documentation & Knowledge

DISTINGUISH BETWEEN COPIES, NOTARIZATION, AUTHENTICATION, AND CONSULAR LEGALIZATION

 

Currently, when carrying out legal activities in Vietnam and abroad, several papers, documents, and dossiers must be notarized, authenticated, or consular legalized to ensure legal validity. With the increase in quantity and the complexity of legal activities, especially with foreign elements in Vietnam, people need to clearly understand nature and other related issues to save time and effort. However, several people can not distinguish between copies, notarization, authentication, and consular legalization.

Therefore, within this article, Dai Ha Thanh Law Firm will provide some information and distinguish the differences between copies, notarization, authentication, and consular legalization activities

1. The definition of copies, notarization, authentication and consular legalization

1.1. The definition of notarization

Notarization means certifying the authenticity and legality of contracts and other civil transactions in writing (hereinafter referred to as contracts, transactions); the accuracy and not contrary to social ethics of the translations and documents from Vietnamese into foreign languages or from foreign languages into Vietnamese (hereinafter referred to as translation) that must be notarized under regulations or individuals or organizations voluntarily request notarization (Clause 1 Article 2 Notary Law 2014).

1.2. The definition of authentication

Currently, Vietnamese law does not have any specific definitions for authentication. It is mainly defined through particular activities, specifically in three aspects:

"Authentication of copies from originals" means competent state agencies or organizations certify the copy is true to the original (Clause 2 Article 2 Decree 23/2015/ND-CP).

"Signature authentication" means competent state agencies or organizations authenticate the signature in documents or dossiers as the signature of the person requesting authentication (Clause 3 Article 2 Decree 23/2015/ND-CP).

"Authentication of contracts and transactions" means competent state agencies or organizations authenticate the time and place of entering into a contract or transaction; civil act capacity, willingness, signatures, or fingerprints of the parties in the contracts or transactions (Clause 4 Article 2 Decree 23/2015/ND-CP).

Thus, according to the above regulations, authentication can be defined as the act of agencies and organizations confirming the accuracy and authenticity of copies, contracts, civil or economic transactions, individual signatures, legal acts, and other personal information (Vu Thi Thao (2015), "Legal topic on authentication", Special issue of legal propaganda, No. 02/2015, p.6).

1.3. Definition of consular legalization

Consular legalization means the act of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, diplomatic missions, consulates of Vietnam, or other authorized authorities abroad performing the consular function of certifying the signatures and stamps on documents issued, granted, or certified by foreign competent agencies for use in Vietnam (Clause 1 Article 7 Law on Legal Assistance 2007). Besides, “Consular legalization” is also defined as the act of Vietnamese competent agencies certifying stamps, signatures, and titles on foreign documents or dossiers for being recognized and used in Vietnam (Clause 2 Article 2 Decree 111/2011/ND-CP). Thus, according to both definitions, consular legalization means the act of Vietnamese competent authorities to certify stamps, signatures, and titles on foreign documents or dossiers.

1.4. Definition of a copy

"Copy" means a photocopy of the original or a typed copy with full and accurate content as in the original book (Clause 6 Article 2 Decree 23/2015/ND-CP).

2. Distinguish between copies, notarization, authentication, and consular legalization

 

Criteria

Notarization

Authentication

Consular legalization

Copy

Nature 

- The activity of certifying the veracity.

- Certification is the confirmation that something is true and correct. 

For certification, the certifier usually must go through a series of inspections, verifications, comparisons, etc.

- The activity of confirming.

- Confirmation is an acceptance of the truth, often in the form of paperwork such as confirming signatures and statements.

The activity of certifying signatures and stamps on documents.

 

 

A copy is a text or a document that is photographed or retyped from an original document.

Competent agencies

A notary of the Notary Bureau or the Notary Office, in which:

- Notary Office is established by at least 02 notaries, in the form of partnerships (Article 22 Notary Law 2014); 

- Notary Bureau is a public service unit under the Department of Justice, which is established by the Provincial People's Committee (Clause 1 and Clause 2 Article 19 Notary Law 2014).

- The Head of the Department and Deputy Head of the Justice Department of districts, communes, and provincial cities;

- The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of communes, wards and towns (referred to as “Commune-level People's Committee”);

- Vietnamese diplomatic missions, consulates, or other agencies authorized to perform the consular function;

- Notaries (Article 5 Decree 23/2015/ND-CP)

Note: Authentication of contracts and transactions related to the land use rights is implemented at the Commune People's Committee where the land is located (Clause 6 Article 5  Decree 23/2015/ND-CP)

- The Consular Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City are assigned to certify consular and legalization in Vietnam;

-  The Minister of Foreign Affairs shall authorize the Department/Office/Division of Foreign Affairs of provinces, central cities (hereinafter referred to as local foreign affairs agencies) to receive applications for consular certification or legalization and return the results (Article 1 Circular 01/2012/TT-BNG)

- The agency, organization managing the original book have the authority and responsibility to issue copies from the original book (Article 4 Decree 23/2015/ND-CP); 

- Regarding the authentication of copies from originals, the person who requires authentication will make the copies, and the competent agencies are certification agencies.

Liability

Notaries will be responsible for the veracity of that contract or transaction.

Competent agencies solely confirm the individual’s signatures, legal acts or other personal information, and are not responsible for their content.

Competent agencies solely certify stamps, signatures, and titles on  documents and dossiers, and do not include certification of the content and form of documents and dossiers.

- In case copies are issued from the original book, the competent authorities will be responsible for those copies.

- In case the copies are authenticated from the original, the authentication authority only certifies personal signatures, legal acts, and other personal information. They are not responsible for the content of the aforementioned information.

 

Criteria

Notarization 

Authentication

Consular legalization

Copies

Document

-Civil contracts;

-Civil transactions;

-Translations;

-Contracts that require notarization, such as house purchase and sale contracts, house donation contracts, etc.)

Documents that need to be authenticated include:

- Issue copies from originals;

- Authenticate copies from originals;

- Signatures;

- Transactions and contracts;

Foreign papers or dossiers are required for  consular legalization

Note: Except for cases that are not subject to consular legalization and are exempt from consular legalization (Article 9, Article 10 Decree 111/2011/ND-CP).

Documents or papers are photographed or retyped from the originals.

Validity

- A notarized document is valid from the date a notary officer signs and stamps on a notarial practice organization.

- Notarized contracts or transactions are valid to concerned parties; in case the concerned parties do not execute their responsibility, another party will solve it based on the regulation of law, except concerned parties joining in contract or transaction have another agreement.

- Notarized contracts or transactions are proof;  details or events in contracts or transactions that are notarized do not need to be proven, except in the case that the Law Court declares that it is invalid.

- Notarized translations have the same legal validity as  translated documents (Article 5 Notary Law 2014).

- An authenticated signature following the regulation of this Decree is used for proving that the authentication requester has signed that signature. That is a basement to define the responsibility of the signer to the content of the document.

- Authenticated contracts and documents assigned at this Decree are used for proving the time and places that the parties have signed the contract, transactions; civil act capacity, voluntary spirit, signature or stamp of parties that joined the contract or transaction (Clause 3 and Clause 4 Article 3 Decree 23/2015/NĐ-CP).

Foreign papers and documents are recognized and used in Vietnam (Clause 2 Article 2 Decree 111/2011/ND-CP).

- Copies are valuable if they are issued from the original book (for use instead of the original in transactions). 

- Copies certified from the original (value used instead of the original used to compare authentication in transactions) (Clause 1 and Clause 2 Article 3 Decree 23/2015/ND-CP)

Language

The spoken and written language used in notarization is Vietnamese (Article 6 Notary Law 2014).

The spoken and written language used in authenticating contracts and transactions is Vietnamese. 

In case the person requesting authentication is not fluent in Vietnamese, an interpreter is required (Article 11 Decree 23/2015/ND-CP).

The language used for consular certification and legalization is Vietnamese and the official language of the country where the document is used, or English or French (Clause 1 Article 7 Decree 111/2011/ND-CP).

- For copies from the original book, because the copy of the original book has been completed and is accurate content as recorded in the original book, so the language will be the same in the original book.

- For certified copies of originals, the language used is Vietnamese (Article 11 Decree 23/2015/ND-CP).

 

Above is an overview of legal issues related to the differences between copies, notarization, authentication and consular legalization. With the above information, We hope that foreign individuals and organizations needing notarization, consular legalization, and authentication will have the necessary information. If you have any questions related to this issue, please contact us for professional and effective legal consulting services.