駐外領務人員辦理公證事務辦法

1The Regulations are enacted under Paragraph 3 of Article 150 of the Act on

2Authentication of 1999 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”).

1Overseas consular officials (hereinafter referred to as “Consular Officials”) are officials assigned to the Republic of China

2(ROC) embassies, consulates, representative offices and/or other agencies authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the

3ROC (hereinafter referred to as “Overseas Offices”) who are authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of the

4ROC to conduct consular affairs. Consular Officials are entitled to the status of diplomatic and consular personnel, unless

5otherwise authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the ROC.

1“Place of posting” refers to the place or area in which there is consular jurisdiction as defined by MOFA. Consular Officials

2shall conduct authentication of documents within their Place of posting; Consular Officials may also conduct this service at

3other appropriate premises.

1On the request of the parties concerned and other privy, Consular Officials may authenticate the following documents for use

2in the ROC only:

3(1). Wills lodged by overseas Chinese under the terms of Paragraph 2 of Article 1191 of the Civil Code;

4(2). Official and private documents under Article 2 of the Act;

5(3). Documents authenticated outside the ROC (hereinafter referred to as “foreign documents”).

6If documents to be authenticated fall under the category of those described in subparagraphs 1 and 2 above, Consular Officials

7should accept the application if it falls within the consular jurisdiction of neighboring offices in the same foreign country and

8there is no difficulty in verification.

9If the documents fall under the category of subparagraph 1 above, the parties concerned must apply to MOFA for verification

1Overseas Offices may employ assistants. These assistants should be well acquainted with the language(s), laws and political

2environment of the Place of posting, and may help Consular Officials carry out authentication of documents.

1Consular Officials are obliged to bear their official title and the designation of their Overseas Offices while signing or sealing

2documents for authentication. In certain circumstances, and in some Places of posting, Consular Officials may bear other

3official titles or designations as authorized by the Executive Yuan or MOFA.

1Consular Officials should refuse requests for authentication in the following circumstances (although if corroboration of

2documents is required from applicants, Consular Officials may allow a given period of time within which documents may be

3corroborated):

4(1). Authentication is not requested within the Place of posting;

5(2). The document to be authenticated is not for use within the ROC;

6(3). There is no original signature or seal on the document, it is not accompanied by an original copy or manuscript, and

7supporting evidence submitted together with the document is not original;

8(4). The contents of the document contravene the laws of the ROC or are not legally valid;

9(5). The document contravenes treaties, established international practice, or the laws of the Place of posting;

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1If an applicant or privy regards the conduct of a Consular Official to be illegal or inappropriate, the applicant or the privy may

2state their opinion by way of a written appeal.

3If the Consular Official regards the objections raised by the applicant to be reasonable, they should deal with the case

4appropriately within three days. If the Consular Official does not regard the objections to be reasonable, the case should be

5forwarded, along with the applicant’s written appeal, to the head of the Overseas Office within three days. The head of the

6Overseas Office shall verify the case, or transfer the case to MOFA and notify the applicant, within five days.

7If the applicant’s appeal is regarded as reasonable by the head of the Overseas Office or by MOFA, the Consular Official(s)

8in question shall be ordered to conduct the case again properly; if the applicant’s appeal is not regarded as reasonable, the

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Fees for the authentication of documents shall be charged according to amounts determined by MOFA.

1Overseas Offices shall compile a written or digital register of applications for authentication of documents. Each application

2shall be entered in this register consecutively according to its date of receipt and order of precedence.

1All documents and relevant files shall be kept on file at Overseas Offices. These files shall not be removed from Overseas

2Offices unless MOFA or other authorities concerned borrow the files in accordance with the relevant regulations, duplicates of

3the files have been produced, or the documents need to be removed due to an emergency.

4Documents related to the authentication of wills shall be stored for a period of fifty years; documents related to the acquisition,

5expropriation or transfer of real estate shall be stored for a period of ten years; authentication registers shall be stored for a

6period of thirty years.

7Except in the circumstances described in the preceding paragraph, files related to authentication shall be stored for three years.

8However, files may be destroyed earlier if necessary.

9Storage periods as set out in Paragraphs 1 and 2 above shall accrue from January 1 of the year following the date of

1When applying for authentication of a will, a testator must present original identification papers, and two witnesses designated

2by the testator must be present. Applications cannot be filed by agents; testators must apply in person. The testator shall dictate

3his/her will in the presence of (a) Consular Official(s) and witnesses. The will shall be taken down, read and explained by the

4Consular Official(s). After the contents of the will have been acknowledged by the testator, the date shall be entered, and the

5will shall be signed by the Consular Official(s) present, the witnesses and the testator. If the testator is unable to sign in person,

6the Consular Official(s) shall record the reasons for this and shall have the testator’s fingerprint imprinted on the will in lieu

7of a signature.

8If property listed in the will is elaborate in nature, the Consular Official(s) may record the details of related documents provided

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1In accordance with the regulations set out in paragraph 2 of Article 98 of the Law, copies shall be made of private documents

2handled in the process of notarizing or authenticating wills and forwarded to the National Federation of Notary Public

3Associations by Consular Officials for filing.

4Prior to the establishment of the National Federation of Notary Public Associations, the above-mentioned documents shall be

5kept on file at the respective Overseas Offices.

1Authenticated documents, except in the case of treaties, international practices and other rules, shall be directly registered in

2accordance with Article 106 of the Law, or authenticated by way of Article 100 of the Law.

3The rules described above are applicable to the authentication of foreign documents.

1When documents are authenticated by way of direct registration under Article 106 of the Law, Consular Officials shall apply

2the authentication seal to a blank space on the original, transcript, and copy or translated version of the document. If no

3appropriate blank space exists, or the blank space is not large enough, the seal may be applied on the reverse side of the

4document, or an extra piece of paper may be attached to the document and sealed with an edging stamp, or by other method, to

5indicate continuation.

6After documents relating to the purchase, sale and transfer of real estate have been authenticated, Consular Officials shall

7forward the transcript or copy of the authenticated documents, accompanied by an official notice from the Overseas Office,

8directly to the relevant city/county government where the real estate is located for inspection.

1When the translated version of a document is being authenticated, Consular Officials shall apply a stamp that states: “This is

2not an exact translation of the attached document.” This stamp shall be placed within the seal of authentication or on the

3translated version, and an edging stamp shall be applied between the original document and the translated version in order to

4indicate continuance.

5If the above-mentioned documents are in a language other than that used in the Place of posting, or in a language with which

6Consular Officials are not familiar, applicants shall enclose copies of the documents translated into Chinese and English for

7reference. Consular Officials may also request applicants to have documents, and translated versions of these documents,

8authenticated/notarized by an authentication agency, a notary public, or a public translator in the first instance. Consular

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1When authenticating foreign documents, Consular Officials shall verify and collate the signature and seal of documents, or

2verify these by other appropriate means according to Article 14 of the Law. Treaties, international standards and other rules are

3not subject to this provision.

4The procedure for verifying signatures and seals is as follows:

5(1). The signature and seal appearing on the document shall be verified in the first instance by the authorities of the country in

6which the document was produced (hereinafter referred to as “the Country”);

7(2). When verifying the signature and seal of the authorities concerned, if a sample is not available for collation, Consular

8Officials shall request the authorities concerned to verify the signature, or request the applicant to have the document verified by

9an official agency or higher level authorities within the agency which produced the document;

MOFA shall decide upon the forms, seals and other notes of authentication used under the Regulations.

The Regulations enter into force on January 1, 2002.