Authentication of documents or signatures
Performance specification
A certification confirms that copies, photocopies, reproductions, negatives, printouts of electronic documents or electronic documents correspond to the original.
Signatures and hand signs on documents shall be certified by public authorities if the signed document is required for submission to a public authority or to another body to which the signed document is to be submitted on the basis of a legal provision.If a certification is required for use abroad, a simple certification is not sufficient.
Legal basis
- § Section 33 Hessian Administrative Procedure Act - Certification of documents
- § Section 34 Hessian Administrative Procedure Act - Authentication of Signatures and Signatures by Hand
Hessian Ordinance on the Determination of the Authorities Authorised to Certify
What else should I know?
An official certification is not sufficient,
- if a public notarisation or public certification (by notaries, courts or certain authorities, e.g. the youth welfare office) is required, or
- if the exclusive competence of a particular authority is given (e.g. civil status certificates only from the registry office, extracts from the real estate cadastre only from the cadastral and surveying authorities).