Over the years, LEHMAN, LEE & XU team had to notarize many official documents in China for our clients.
The subject of official notarization of documents in China might bring a lot of confusion. Therefore, explaining how to get a document notarized and the different kinds of notarization is essential.
Public Notary Office (Chinese: 公证处) in China is a non-profit certifying institution lawfully established to independently exercises the notary functions and bears corresponding civil liabilities. It is responsible for certifying documents according to the Chinese legal system.
According to Article 11 of the Notarization Law of the People’s Republic of China, the notary office shall handle the following notarization matters:
1) Contract;
2) Succession;
3) Entrustment, declaration, gift, and will;
4) Property division;
5) Bidding, bidding, and auction;
6) Marital status, kinship, and adoption relationship;
7) Birth, survival, death, identity, experience, educational background, degree, position, job title, and whether there is any illegal or criminal record;
The articles of association of the company;
9) Preservation of evidence;
10) The signature, seal, and date on the document and copy and photocopy of the document are consistent with the original;
11) Other notarization matters voluntarily applied by natural persons, legal persons, or other organizations.
Under the Chinese Law, notarization shall mean an act performed by a notarial institution to certify the authenticity and legality of a civil juristic act, a fact, or a document of legal significance in accordance with the statutory procedures upon the application of a natural person, legal person or other organization (see: Article 2 of Notarization Law of the People’s Republic of China).
Notarization of facts or documents of legal significance before the Chinese notary must be in accordance with Chinese Law.
According to the Chinese Law (Art. 37 of the Rules of notarization procedure), the notarization of facts or documents of legal significance shall meet the following conditions:
1) The fact or document has an interest in the party concerned;
2) The facts or documents are true and correct;
3) The content and form of facts or documents are legal and do not violate social morality;
4) Other conditions stipulated in the notarization law.
Moreover, under article 36 of the Notarization Law of the People’s Republic of China, notarized civil juristic acts, facts, and documents of legal significance shall be used as the
basis for ascertaining facts unless there is evidence to the contrary sufficient to overturn the notarization.
In practice, the notary office in PRC does notarize the facts or documents indicated in the Chinese Laws, such as contracts, successions, entrustments, declarations, gifts, wills, property divisions, etc.
Our lawyers work with the clients to assist in the notarization of all types of documents in China before the Chinese notary, as well as in discussions with the local Notary Office to ensure the proper service.