Official certification; obtaining from the municipality or administrative community

As the authorities closest to the citizens, the municipalities and administrative communities in particular are generally authorized to officially certify copies and signatures.

The certification of documents officially confirms that the content of a copy (transcript) is identical to the original document (original).

The authentication of signatures officially confirms the authenticity of a signature or hand mark.

Notarization of documents

You can only have written or electronic documents officially certified if they have been issued by a German authority or are required for submission to another German authority. The certification note will be affixed to the copy or electronic document.

You can go to the authority in person or be represented by someone to whom you have given written authorization.

Notarization of signatures

• Identity card or passport
• in the case of certification of a document: original (original document)
• in the case of authentication of a signature: document

§ Section 129 of the German Civil Code provides for "public notarization" for certain written declarations (e.g. for the documents to be submitted to the land registry in accordance with Section 29 of the Land Register Code). In these cases, public notarization by a notary is regularly required. Official certification by the municipality or administrative community is not sufficient for this purpose. Special legal regulations also apply in other cases. For example, the issuing of certified copies from official registers is often reserved for the authority keeping the register:

• Civil status certificates are not notarized. Birth, marriage, civil partnership and death certificates as well as certified printouts from the respective civil status registers are only issued by the registry office (see "Related topics" - "Civil status certificate; application").
• Printouts from the register of associations or the land register can only be certified by the respective local court.

The authenticity of public documents that are to be used abroad and have been issued by courts, state authorities or local authorities can be certified by legalization or the issue of an apostille (see "Related topics"). Official legalization is generally not sufficient for use abroad.