According to the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, when a foreigner, stateless person, foreign enterprise or organization without a domicile within the territory of the People's Republic of China entrusts a lawyer or other person in the People's Republic of China to act as an agent in a lawsuit, the power of attorney sent or entrusted from outside the territory of the People's Republic of China shall be certified by a notary office of the country of origin and authenticated by the embassy or consulate of the People's Republic of China in that country, or go through the certification formalities as stipulated in the relevant treaties concluded between the People's Republic of China and that country before it becomes effective. For evidence formed outside the territory, although there is no direct legal provision, in judicial practice, it usually also needs to go through notarization and authentication formalities before it can be accepted by judicial or administrative organs.
Since the notarization and authentication formalities for documents formed outside the territory (including evidentiary materials and entrustment formalities) need to be completed in the country or region where the documents are formed, agents on the Chinese mainland basically do not get involved in this part of the work and only need to submit the notarized and authenticated documents to the relevant judicial or administrative organs. However, for documents formed in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan regions, after being notarized by local notary offices, some verification work needs to be completed in the Chinese mainland. The following takes documents formed in Taiwan, China, as an example to introduce the verification procedures after the relevant documents are notarized.
Since there is no direct official contact mechanism established between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, when relevant documents need to be transferred between the two sides, it is necessary to ensure their authenticity and legal validity. To this end, notarized documents between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan need to be verified and transferred through the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS). The Straits Exchange Foundation, the full name of which is "Straits Exchange Foundation," is a semi-official civil institution in the Taiwan region. Its main responsibility is to handle civil affairs and technical and administrative consultations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait in the absence of official relations. The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, the full name of which is "Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait," corresponds to the SEF. Its main functions are to assist relevant parties in promoting various exchanges and interactions across the Taiwan Strait and handling issues in the exchanges between compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, etc.
The specific handling process is as follows: One copy of the document (i.e., the notarized document) notarized by the local notary office in Taiwan is transferred to the SEF and then passed on by the SEF to the ARATS, and one copy is given to the agent on the Chinese mainland. After receiving the notarized document transferred by the SEF, the ARATS, according to the requirements of the area where the notarized document is to be used, transfers the notarized document to the notary association of the place where the document is to be used. The whole process takes about twenty working days. After receiving the notarized document that has not gone through the transfer procedures, the agent can expect that the notarized document transferred by the ARATS may have already reached the notary association of the place of use and can then take the initiative to contact the notary association of the place of use to handle the authentication and verification.
The notary associations of the places of use refer to the notary associations of each province and municipality directly under the Central Government. For example, if the document needs to be used in a court in Jiangsu Province, it is necessary to contact the Notary Association of Jiangsu Province; if the document needs to be used in a court in Zhejiang Province, it is necessary to contact the Notary Association of Zhejiang Province. The materials that need to be carried when going through the authentication include: the original notarized document, the letter of introduction issued by the unit, and the original of one's own ID card.
After examining the materials, the notary association will issue a document authenticated with the association's seal on the spot. The specific practices are slightly different. Some associations will issue a verification certificate stating that the original and copy of the Taiwan notarized document are consistent and attach the notarized document brought by the agent; some associations will directly affix a seal on the notarized document brought by the agent. Although the forms are slightly different, the effects are the same. After obtaining the notarized document verified by the notary associations in various places, it can be submitted to the court for use.
Intimate Tips
Since the time for handling the notarization and authentication of Taiwan notarized documents by notary associations in various places is not unified and there are slight differences in the materials, it is recommended to contact the notary associations in various places by phone in advance.
Some notary associations charge a fee of 100 yuan for handling the authentication of notarized documents, while some are completely free. Here, we would like to give praise to the Notary Association of Zhejiang Province. The staff there have a warm attitude and the service is completely free.
If the litigation time is urgent, the notarized document can be submitted to the court first, and the authentication formalities can be handled at the same time.
Nanjing
Suzhou
Changzhou