I am handling two cases in which the notarization matter really perplexes the clients. Clients always wonder why and when they need to do a notarization and because in some circumstances, doing a notarization is really time and money consuming, clients really want to get a confirmed answer regarding whether the notarization is a must.
It is the law firm and lawyers’ responsibility to give an exact and right answer on above question, although sometimes it is not an easy thing and may take some time to research and consult with relevant authorities, as the requirements on notarization differ from department to department and region to region. Insofar as my experience and knowledge, we need to do notarization at least in following circumstances.
1. When a foreign company intends to form a WFOE in China, the foreign company must provide the certificates to prove its identification and its authorized signatory. Such certificates are usually the registered information forms issued by the Company House or other equivalent authorities. These forms shall be notarized by local notary, and then be legalized by Chinese Embassy in the country where the foreign company is registered. Without such notarization and legalization, such forms will not be deemed as genuine and accepted by relevant authorities in China.
2. When a foreign person or company intends to initiate a legal action in China’s court, he must delegate a Chinese lawyer to be his agent and sign a power of attorney. Such power of attorney needs to be notarized for acceptance of court. The process of notarization is quite easy, and the foreign client needs to be present at a public notary office and sign the power of attorney in front of a notary. However, for some clients who is in foreign country, this process is quite time and money consuming.
It is quite difficult to generalize all the circumstances where notarization is a must, for policies keep changing and are different from authority to authority. What we can do is to do a duly research and consultation to give a confirmed answer regarding the specific issue of clients. For clients, they need to choose an experienced law firm.