Notarisation

Notarisation means that a notary, a person appointed under national law to authenticate legal acts, has put an official certification on a document. The word covers three different things, so it helps to know which one is being asked for.

The lightest is the certification of a signature. The notary confirms that a named person signed the document, having checked who that person is. The second is the certification of a copy as a true copy of the original. The third is the notarial act or deed, where the notary draws up the document itself and records what the parties declare.

The notary's role also differs between legal systems. In many continental European countries, a notary is a legally qualified holder of a public office who drafts and records transactions. In common-law countries, a notary public mainly certifies signatures and documents, often for use abroad. A request to "have it notarised" can therefore mean different things to the two sides of a cross-border deal.

Notarisation adds an independent official who vouches for part of the process. A signature shows that a person agreed to a document. What the notary vouches for depends on the type of notarisation and on national law.

When certifying a signature or drawing up an act, the notary checks the identity of the people who appear. In a notarial act the notary may also check that each person has the capacity and the authority to act, for example under a power of attorney, and explain the legal consequences to the parties. The notary is expected to be impartial and acts for neither side. The result is a public document, to which national procedural law may give more evidential weight than a private one.

Legislators tend to reserve notarial form for acts where a mistake is costly and hard to undo, such as a transfer of land or a change to a company. Which acts are covered is decided country by country, and there is no EU-wide list.

Because the law equates a qualified electronic signature with a handwritten signature, and a notarial requirement asks for more than a signature. Article 25(2) of the eIDAS Regulation says that a qualified electronic signature "shall have the equivalent legal effect of a handwritten signature". Article 2(3) adds that the regulation "does not affect Union or national law related to the conclusion and validity of contracts, other legal or procedural obligations relating to form, or sector-specific requirements relating to form".

The two provisions fit together. Where a law requires a handwritten signature, a qualified signature has the same effect in every member state. Where a law requires a notary, the requirement is for the notary's involvement. No signature supplies that, on paper or on screen.

The two overlap on one function, which is identity. A qualified signature rests on a certificate that a qualified trust service provider issues only after verifying the signer's identity (Article 24(1)), and any later change to the signed data is detectable (Article 26). It is strong evidence of who signed and of what was signed. It does not advise the parties, check their authority or create a public document.

That depends on national law and on the type of act. EU law has moved in this direction for company matters. Directive (EU) 2019/1151 on digital tools in company law requires member states to make it possible to form certain types of company online, and it allows them to keep a notary in that procedure. Beyond that, each country decides whether a notary may act remotely and for which acts.

Three points are worth checking before planning a remote notarisation. Is this kind of act covered by the country's online procedure? Which means of identification must the people appearing use? Will the register, court or foreign authority that receives the document accept it?

Where an online procedure exists, a qualified electronic signature may be the tool the parties sign with. It then works inside the notarial procedure, not in place of it.

A notarised document usually needs one more certificate before another country will accept it. Between countries that have joined the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, that certificate is the apostille. An authority in the country where the document originates issues it. It confirms that the signature is authentic and in what capacity the signer acted, here as a notary. It replaces the older chain of legalisation through ministries and consulates, which still applies for countries outside the convention.

An apostille settles where the document comes from. It does not settle whether a foreign notary's act satisfies the receiving country's form requirement. Suppose the law of one country requires a notarial deed for a transaction. Whether a deed made before a notary in another country is enough is a question for the first country's law. It is the first thing to check when the notary and the asset are in different countries.

Yes, for a defined list of transactions. Article 3(3)(b) of the EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation makes notaries obliged entities, alongside lawyers, when they take part in transactions that concern, among other things, the buying and selling of real property or business entities, or the creation, operation or management of companies. They must then apply the customer due diligence measures in Article 20(1), beginning with identifying the customer and verifying the customer's identity.

The duty sits with each obliged entity for its own customer. A law firm advising a buyer cannot simply treat the notary's identity check at signing as its own. Article 48 allows one obliged entity to rely on another under set conditions, but the ultimate responsibility stays with the firm that relies. The regulation applies from 10 July 2027.