Authentication of Public Documents Act, 1760

Authentication of Public Documents Act, 1760

14th Cortes Federales
Long title	An Act to provide for the authentication of the public documents of the Federation for use abroad; to designate the competent authorities and to establish a certificate of authentication; to provide for the consular legalization of documents where a foreign state requires it; to provide for the recognition in the Federation of foreign public documents; to establish a register of certificates and the means of their verification; to provide for fees and for the integrity of the authentication of documents; and for connected purposes.
Bill Number	FA-1760-12
Introduced by	Council of State (Government of the Federal Accord), sponsored by Gabrielle Fitzgerald (DSP / Secretary of State) and Elias Marchand (AJNA / Secretary of Justice)
Extent	Entire Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie
Dates
Bill Status	Proposed
Date introduced	8.VIII.1760 AN
Last updated	8.VIII.1760 AN
Other legislation
Amendments	None
Related legislation	Federal Legal Association Establishment Act, 1721 Improper Solicitation and Public Gifts Act, 1760 Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760 Public Diplomacy Act, 1760 Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721

The Authentication of Public Documents Act, 1760 (Alexandrian: Loi sur l'authentification des documents publics, 1760; Martino: Ley de Autenticación de Documentos Públicos, 1760; Wechua: Llaqta Qillqakuna Sut'ichaymanta Kamachiy, 1760) is proposed legislation of Nouvelle Alexandrie brought before the 14th Cortes Federales by the Council of State of the Federal Accord. It places on a statutory footing the way the Federation authenticates its own public documents for use abroad, and the way it recognizes the public documents of other states for use at home.

A public document that must be relied on in another country ordinarily has to be authenticated first: the receiving state wants assurance that the signature, seal, or stamp it carries is genuine and that the person who signed it held the office claimed. The Federation has done this work through its consular missions and its notaries, but without a statute to define the certificate, to say who may issue it, or to fix what it proves. The Act supplies that framework. It designates the Secretary of State, acting through the Consular Affairs Bureau, as the principal competent authority, and the Secretary of Justice as the competent authority for documents of the courts and the justice sector; it establishes a single certificate of authentication; it provides for consular legalization where a foreign state requires a further step; it sets out when a foreign public document is recognized in the Federation; and it establishes a register in which every certificate is recorded and against which a receiving authority may check one. The Act creates no new agency and confers no new authority over the content of a document: a certificate speaks only to the origin of the document, never to the truth of what it says.

Background

The authentication of documents for use across borders has long been carried out in the Federation as an administrative practice rather than under a statute. The consular division of the Department of State provides notarial services and authenticates documents for use in the Federation and abroad through its missions, but the practice rests on custom and internal instruction, and no instrument defines the certificate it issues or the effect that certificate has in law. The office that performs the underlying act, the notary, is defined by the Federal Legal Association Establishment Act, 1721 as a legal practitioner qualified to attest and authenticate instruments and to perform the notarial acts that law and custom require, but that Act regulates the profession rather than the certification of documents for foreign use.

In some countries this work has been reduced to a single certificate under a shared convention: a competent authority verifies the signature and seal on a public document and issues a standard certificate, and the receiving state, satisfied by that certificate alone, dispenses with any further legalization. No convention of that kind is open to the Federation, and none binds it; authentication between the Federation and other states rests, for now, on the domestic law of each. The Act is therefore framed as a domestic measure. It does not join the Federation to any convention. It creates a certificate that the Federation issues under its own law and offers to foreign authorities, and it states the terms on which the Federation will recognize the certificates that foreign authorities issue in turn, whether directly or through the legalization of a document by a mission of the Federation abroad.

The Federal Accord came to office committed to clean and orderly government. This Act carries that commitment into a corner of administration that touches many citizens at first hand: the record of a birth or a marriage laid before a foreign registry, the notarized power of attorney relied on in another country, the company or property registration filed abroad. It gives the certificate a defined meaning, ties the conduct of those who issue it to the Federation's anti-corruption law, including the Improper Solicitation and Public Gifts Act, 1760, and opens the register that records each certificate to the authority that must rely on it. It stands beside the Public Diplomacy Act, 1760 and the companion Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760 in the Accord's program for clean government and the Federation's dealings abroad: where the one addresses how the Federation is understood and the other the integrity of public office, this Act addresses how the Federation's documents are trusted.

Key provisions

The Act is arranged in six Parts. Part I sets out the citation, the defined terms, the purpose, and the application of the Act. It defines a public document by reference to its origin, drawing in the documents of the courts and administrative authorities, notarial acts, and official certificates placed on private documents, and it provides that a certificate of authentication certifies the origin of a document alone and not the truth of its content. The general law governing public records, personal data, and the powers of the courts continues to apply, and the Act's own duties are displaced only by a statute that expressly amends it.

Part II designates the competent authorities. The Secretary of State, acting through the Consular Affairs Bureau, is the principal competent authority for the authentication of public documents; the Secretary of Justice is the competent authority for documents issued by or before the courts, notaries, and other bodies of the justice sector; and the head of an overseas mission is a competent authority abroad. Each competent authority keeps specimens of the signatures and seals of the officials and notaries whose documents it authenticates, and every public body must supply the specimens and the verification the authority needs.

Part III provides for the authentication of the Federation's public documents for use abroad. On the application of a person with an interest in a document, the competent authority verifies the genuineness of the signature on it, the capacity in which the signatory acted, and the identity of any seal or stamp, and, if satisfied, issues a certificate of authentication in the prescribed form. Where the state in which a document is to be used requires a further step, the Act provides for its legalization by that state's mission, and allows a mission of the Federation abroad to authenticate or legalize a document in turn. A competent authority must refuse to issue a certificate where it cannot verify the signature or the capacity of the signatory, and must give reasons for a refusal.

Part IV provides for the recognition of foreign public documents in the Federation. A foreign public document that bears the authentication of a competent authority of the state in which it was issued, and any legalization the Act requires, is recognized in the Federation as to its origin, and a public body may accept it without requiring further proof of the signature or seal it carries. The Secretary of State maintains a list of the foreign authorities whose certificates are recognized and may recognize a foreign certificate that answers to the Federation's own; recognition extends to the origin of a document only, and a public body remains free to weigh its content and legal effect.

Part V establishes the machinery of the system. A register records every certificate of authentication issued, and a receiving authority at home or abroad may verify a certificate against the register. The Act provides for fees, denominated in NAX€, and for their waiver in a case of hardship or public interest. It ties the issue of certificates to the Federation's law against corruption: a person who exercises a function under the Act must comply with the Improper Solicitation and Public Gifts Act, 1760 and the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721, a certificate obtained by fraud or improper means is void, and a person who forges a certificate or procures one by deception commits an offense under the general law and is reported to the Anti-Corruption Agency.

Part VI carries the constitutional basis, being the Federation's authority over foreign relations under Article 2 of the Proclamation of Punta Santiago, together with a regulation-making power that cannot cut down the Act's own duties, and commencement on the Royal Assent.

Provisions in outline

Structure of the Act

Part	Articles	Subject
I	1–4	General provisions: citation, definitions, purpose, and application
II	5–7	Competent authorities: their designation, the specimens they keep, and the duty of public bodies to cooperate
III	8–11	Authentication for use abroad: application, the certificate of authentication, consular legalization, and refusal
IV	12–14	Recognition of foreign public documents: recognition, recognized authorities, and the effect of recognition
V	15–19	Register, fees, and integrity: the register and verification, fees, safeguards, void certificates, and offenses
VI	20–22	Closing provisions: constitutional basis, regulations, and commencement

Legislative progress

Legislative progress

Stage	Date	Chamber	Action	Votes (Y-N-A)	Details
1	8.VIII.1760 AN	Federal Assembly	Introduction	-	Introduced for the Council of State by Gabrielle Fitzgerald (DSP, Secretary of State) and Elias Marchand (AJNA, Secretary of Justice)
2	pending	Federal Assembly	Committee report	-
3	pending	Federal Assembly	Final division	-
4	pending	Chamber of Peers	Concurrence	-
5	pending	-	Royal Assent	-	Sinchi Roca II

Bill as submitted to the Hopper of the Federal Assembly, 1760 AN

Authentication of Public Documents Act, 1760

THE READING OF
A
BILL
TO
provide for the authentication of the public documents of the Federation for use abroad; to designate the competent authorities and to establish a certificate of authentication; to provide for the consular legalization of documents where a foreign state requires it; to provide for the recognition in the Federation of foreign public documents; to establish a register of certificates and the means of their verification; to provide for fees and for the integrity of the authentication of documents; and for connected purposes.

Authentication of Public Documents Act, 1760

Presented for the Council of State by Gabrielle Fitzgerald (DSP), Secretary of State, and Elias Marchand (AJNA), Secretary of Justice
Ordered, by the Cortes Federales of Nouvelle Alexandrie,
to be Printed, 1760 AN.

BE IT ENACTED by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Cortes Federales, in this present session assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

PART I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1: Citation.

1. This Act may be cited as the "Authentication of Public Documents Act, 1760".

Article 2: Definitions.

1. In this Act:
   1. "the Agency" means the Anti-Corruption Agency;
   2. "the Assembly" means the Federal Assembly;
   3. "a certificate of authentication" means a certificate issued under Article 9;
   4. "a competent authority" means an authority designated by Article 5;
   5. "the Department" means the Department of State;
   6. "the Gazette" means the Federal Gazette;
   7. "legalization" means the confirmation, by the mission of the state in which a document is to be used or by an overseas mission of the Federation, of the genuineness of a certificate of authentication or of a signature and seal on a public document, where the receiving state requires it;
   8. "a notary" has the meaning given by the Federal Legal Association Establishment Act, 1721;
   9. "an overseas mission" means a diplomatic or consular mission of the Federation abroad, and includes a permanent representation to an international organization;
   10. "a public body" means a department, agency, court, or other body of the Federation, and includes a Region and its public bodies when they issue public documents;
   11. "a public document" has the meaning given by Article 2(2);
   12. "the register" means the register kept under Article 15;
   13. "a Region" means a region of the Federation, and includes its government and public bodies;
   14. "the Secretary" means the Secretary of State;
   15. "the Secretary of Justice" means the Secretary of Justice.
2. In this Act, "a public document" means a document issued in the Federation and falling within one of the following classes—
   1. a document emanating from a court or tribunal, or from an officer connected with a court or tribunal;
   2. an administrative document issued by a public body;
   3. a notarial act; or
   4. an official certificate placed on a document signed by a person in a private capacity, such as a certificate recording the registration of the document or verifying a signature on it;
3. but "a public document" does not include a document executed by a diplomatic or consular agent, or an administrative document dealing directly with a commercial or customs operation.

Article 3: Purpose.

1. The purposes of this Act are—
   1. to provide a reliable means of authenticating the public documents of the Federation for use abroad;
   2. to designate the authorities responsible for that authentication and to define the certificate they issue;
   3. to provide for the recognition in the Federation of the public documents of other states; and
   4. to secure the integrity of the authentication of documents.
2. This Act establishes no new body. It is read together with the Federal Legal Association Establishment Act, 1721, and where this Act is silent that Act continues to apply to notaries and notarial acts.

Article 4: Application.

1. This Act binds the Department, the competent authorities, and every public body of the Federation that issues or relies on a public document under this Act.
2. This Act does not displace the general law of the Federation governing public records, the protection of personal data, or the powers of the courts; that law continues to apply to activities under this Act.
3. A certificate of authentication, and the recognition of a foreign public document under this Act, certify the origin of a document only, and not the truth of its content or its legal effect.
4. Except as provided in paragraph 2, the duties imposed and the safeguards created by this Act have effect despite any other enactment, and are displaced only by an enactment that expressly amends this Act.

PART II
COMPETENT AUTHORITIES

Article 5: Competent authorities.

1. The Secretary of State, acting through the Consular Affairs Bureau of the Department, is the principal competent authority for the authentication of public documents under this Act.
2. The Secretary of Justice is the competent authority for the authentication of a public document that emanates from a court or tribunal, from a notary, or from another body of the justice sector.
3. The head of an overseas mission is a competent authority for the authentication and legalization of documents in the area of the mission's responsibility.
4. The Secretary of State may, with the agreement of the Secretary of Justice, make regulations allocating a class of documents between the competent authorities, and settling which authority is to act where a document falls within the responsibility of more than one.

Article 6: Specimens of signatures and seals.

1. Each competent authority must keep a record of specimens of the signatures and seals of the officials and notaries whose documents it authenticates.
2. A competent authority must maintain the record so that it can verify a signature or seal against a current specimen.
3. Where a competent authority does not hold a specimen for a document presented to it, it may verify the signature or seal by any other reliable means, including a confirmation under Article 7.

Article 7: Duty of public bodies to cooperate.

1. A public body must, at the request of a competent authority, supply a specimen of the signature and seal of an official who issues its public documents, and must notify the authority of a change.
2. A public body must, at the request of a competent authority, confirm whether a document presented for authentication was issued by it and whether the signature and seal on it are genuine.
3. A public body must comply with a request under this Article unless it has a reasonable excuse, which includes legal privilege, the protection of classified information, and the protection of personal data.

PART III
AUTHENTICATION FOR USE ABROAD

Article 8: Application for a certificate.

1. A person with an interest in a public document may apply to a competent authority for a certificate of authentication of the document for use abroad.
2. An application must identify the document, the state in which the document is to be used, and the applicant's interest in it, and must be accompanied by the document and the prescribed fee.
3. A competent authority may require an applicant to produce the original of a document, or a copy of it certified by the public body that issued it.

Article 9: Certificate of authentication.

1. A competent authority that is satisfied of the matters in paragraph 2 must issue a certificate of authentication of the document.
2. Before issuing a certificate, the competent authority must verify—
   1. the genuineness of the signature on the document;
   2. the capacity in which the person signing the document acted; and
   3. the identity of any seal or stamp the document bears.
3. A certificate of authentication—
   1. certifies the matters verified under paragraph 2, and so certifies the origin of the document;
   2. does not certify the content of the document, or its validity or legal effect; and
   3. must be in the prescribed form, must bear a number, and must be recorded in the register under Article 15.
4. A certificate may be issued as a separate certificate attached to the document, or as an entry placed on the document itself.

Article 10: Consular legalization.

1. Where the state in which a document is to be used requires, in addition to a certificate under Article 9, the legalization of the document by its own mission, the competent authority must so inform the applicant, and the certificate is issued to enable that legalization.
2. An overseas mission of the Federation may authenticate or legalize a public document, or a foreign public document, in the area of the mission's responsibility; and Articles 8 and 9 apply to an overseas mission as they apply to a competent authority within the Federation.
3. The Secretary of State may make regulations for the legalization of documents by overseas missions, including the fees payable.

Article 11: Refusal.

1. A competent authority must refuse to issue a certificate where it cannot verify the genuineness of the signature or the capacity of the signatory, or where the document is not a public document.
2. A competent authority may refuse to issue a certificate where it has reasonable grounds to believe that the document is forged, or that the certificate is sought for a purpose that is unlawful or fraudulent.
3. A competent authority that refuses to issue a certificate must give the applicant the reasons for the refusal in writing.

PART IV
RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

Article 12: Recognition of foreign public documents.

1. A foreign public document is recognized in the Federation as to its origin where it bears—
   1. the authentication of a competent authority of the state in which it was issued; and
   2. any legalization by an overseas mission of the Federation that this Act or the regulations require.
2. A public body may accept a document recognized under paragraph 1 without requiring further proof of the genuineness of the signature or seal it bears.
3. This Article does not require a public body to accept a document whose content it is entitled to assess, and does not give a document a legal effect that the law does not otherwise give it.

Article 13: Recognized authorities and equivalent certificates.

1. The Secretary of State must keep and publish a list of the foreign authorities whose authentications are recognized under Article 12.
2. The Secretary of State may recognize a certificate issued by a foreign authority that corresponds to a certificate of authentication under this Act, and may dispense with legalization for a document that bears such a certificate.
3. The Secretary of State may make the recognition of a foreign authority's certificates conditional on the like recognition of the Federation's certificates by that authority's state.

Article 14: Effect of recognition.

1. The recognition of a foreign public document under this Part extends to the origin of the document only.
2. Recognition does not certify the content of a document, or its validity or legal effect, and does not limit the power of a court or a public body to weigh the document.

PART V
REGISTER, FEES, AND INTEGRITY

Article 15: Register and verification.

1. The Secretary of State must establish and keep a register of the certificates of authentication issued under this Act.
2. The register must record, for each certificate, its number, its date, the document to which it relates, the competent authority that issued it, and the state in which the document is to be used.
3. The Secretary of State must provide a means by which a person to whom a certificate is presented, whether in the Federation or abroad, may verify the certificate against the register.
4. The register must be kept, and access to it provided, in a manner that protects personal data and classified information.

Article 16: Fees.

1. The Secretary of State may make regulations prescribing the fees, denominated in NAX€, payable for a certificate of authentication, for legalization, and for the verification of a certificate.
2. A fee must be set by reference to the cost of providing the service, and must not exceed it.
3. The Secretary of State may by regulation provide for the waiver or reduction of a fee in a case of hardship, or where the waiver is in the public interest.
4. Fees received under this Act are paid into the general revenue of the Federation, unless an enactment provides otherwise.

Article 17: Integrity.

1. A person who exercises a function under this Act must comply with the Improper Solicitation and Public Gifts Act, 1760 and the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721.
2. A person who exercises a function under this Act must not accept a gift, fee, or other benefit for issuing, refusing, or expediting a certificate, other than a fee payable under Article 16.
3. A competent authority that becomes aware of a contravention of this Article must report it to the Anti-Corruption Agency.

Article 18: Void certificates.

1. A certificate of authentication is void where it was obtained by fraud, by a false representation, or by a contravention of Article 17.
2. The Secretary of State must cancel a void certificate, must note the cancellation in the register, and must, so far as is practicable, notify any authority to which the certificate is known to have been presented.

Article 19: Offenses.

1. A person who forges a certificate of authentication, or who makes or presents a certificate knowing it to be forged or void, commits an offense.
2. A person who obtains, or seeks to obtain, a certificate by a statement that the person knows to be false in a material particular commits an offense.
3. An offense under this Article is dealt with under the general criminal law of the Federation, and a competent authority must report a suspected offense to the Anti-Corruption Agency or the appropriate prosecuting authority.

PART VI
CLOSING PROVISIONS

Article 20: Constitutional basis.

1. This Act is enacted under the authority of the Federation over foreign affairs as a federal competence, conferred by Article 2 (Division of Powers) of the Proclamation of Punta Santiago, which assigns foreign relations to the federal entities.

Article 21: Regulations.

1. The Secretary of State may make regulations for carrying this Act into effect, and, in a matter within the responsibility of the Secretary of Justice under Article 5, must make them with the agreement of the Secretary of Justice.
2. A power to make regulations under a particular Article includes a power to make different provision for different cases.
3. Regulations under this Act are subject to this Act, and must not reduce, dispense with, or alter a duty or safeguard that this Act imposes.
4. Regulations under this Act must be published in the Gazette.

Article 22: Commencement and application.

1. This Act applies to the Federation.
2. This Act comes into force on receiving the Royal Assent.
3. This Act must be published in the Gazette within seven days beginning with the day of the Royal Assent.
4. If a provision of this Act is held to be invalid, the remaining provisions continue in force.

Amendments

No amendments to date.

Voting record

Under the Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759 the three governing parties, together holding 448 of the 801 seats, are committed to the Government's legislative program, of which this bill is a part.

Federal Assembly, 1760 AN (to be completed)

Political party	Yes	No	Abstain/absent	Total	% Support
Alliance for a Just Nouvelle Alexandrie (AJNA)				260
Civic Governance Alliance (CGA)				95
Federal Consensus Party (FCP)				93
Federal Humanist Party (FHP)				293
Independent				50
Republican Party of Oportia (RPO)				10
Total				801

See also

• Consular services of Nouvelle Alexandrie
• Department of State (Nouvelle Alexandrie)
• Diplomatic missions of Nouvelle Alexandrie
• Federal Legal Association Establishment Act, 1721
• Public Diplomacy Act, 1760
• Improper Solicitation and Public Gifts Act, 1760
• Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760
• 14th Cortes Federales