[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 22, Volume 1]

[Revised as of April 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 22CFR92.37]



[Page 370]

 

                       TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS

 

                     CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE

 

PART 92_NOTARIAL AND RELATED SERVICES--Table of Contents

 

Sec.  92.37  Authentication procedure.



    (a) The consular officer must compare the foreign official's seal 

and signature on the document he is asked to authenticate with a 

specimen of the same official's seal and signature on file either in the 

Foreign Service office or in a foreign public office to which he has 

access. If no specimen is available to the consular officer, he should 

require that each signature and seal be authenticated by some higher 

official or officials of the foreign government until there appears on 

the document a seal and signature which he can compare with a specimen 

available to him. However, this procedure of having a document 

authenticated by a series of foreign officials should be followed only 

where unusual circumstances, or the laws or regulations of the foreign 

country require it.

    (b) Where the State law requires the consular officer's certificate 

of authentication to show that the foreign official is empowered to 

perform a particular act, such as administering an oath or taking an 

acknowledgment, the consular officer must verify the fact that the 

foreign official is so empowered.

    (c) When the consular officer has satisfactorily identified the 

foreign seal and signature (and, where required, has verified the 

authority of the foreign official to perform a particular act), he may 

then execute a certificate of authentication, either placing this 

certificate on the document itself if space is available, or appending 

it to the document on a separate sheet (see Sec.  92.17 on the fastening 

of notarial certificates).