A series of short articles, by Mary McEvoy, as includedin the Luton Chamber of Commerce Newsletter, demystifying the ancient office of a Notary Public.
Mary also recently attended a reception held by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Milton Keynes. Neves offer a delivery service to the FCO from our offices in MK.
Notary Public
A notary public is an officer of the law appointed by the Court of Faculties to draw up or authenticate documents for use anywhere in the world, and to administer oaths and declarations for use in proceedings in England and abroad.
A notary public may be asked to draft, witness or certify as to the validity of documents and as to the authority of those people signing the documents. When such documents are produced or authenticated by a notary they should be acceptable abroad. A notary is also required to keep in perpetuity a record and copies of the documents produced or verified by him or her.
Often a notary will be asked to witness the signature of documents by companies. In this case he or she will have to carry out a Company Search to check that the company is legally empowered to proceed, will have to check that the people signing on behalf of the company have the company’s authority to do so; we will also have to check the identity of the people signing and will have to check that the signatories understand the nature and effect of the arrangement they are entering into.
In other cases, the notary may be asked to certify that a photocopy of an original document is a true copy. The production of notarially certified copies is generally considered by courts and public authorities overseas to be equivalent to production of the original document. In court proceedings an affidavit may need to be sworn and a notary public is authorised to take affidavits or statutory declarations.
For further information please see Neves Solicitors’ website at www.neves-solicitors.co.uk and go to our services/Notaries Public/FAQ’s.
Companies Act 2006 – Corporate and Under Age Directors
As a result of changes introduced by the Companies Act 2006 the following changes were implemented on the 1st October 2008.
- Companies can no longer have 100% Corporate Directorships (Section 155);
- At least one Director must be a natural (that is real) person (Section 155);
- The minimum age at which a person may become a Director is 16 (Section 157);
- There is no longer an upper age restriction and therefore Directors may be aged over 70.
If a Director was younger than 16 on the 1st October 2008 he automatically ceases to be a Director and will have been “resigned” by Companies House.
The Company will be required to amend the register of Directors to record the cessation of the appointment.
If there is no eligible Director the Company will be in default and subject to penalties including fines of up to £5,000 for both Company and officers plus daily default fines; the Secretary of State may issue a direction requiring the Company to comply with the rules.
A Company without an eligible Director may not be in “good standing” and may therefore experience difficulty in obtaining a notarial certificate or a certificate of good standing and thus may experience difficulties when trading or working abroad.
If you need help with notarial matters please call Mary McEvoy on phone number 01582 725311 who will be happy to advise you.
Legalisation at the Indian High Commission
India is a signatory to The Hague Convention and accordingly should accept documents which have been notarised and subsequently legalised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by the application of an apostille. However, until recently Indian authorities frequently insisted that in addition to an apostille documents should be further legalised at the Indian High Commission. The Indian Corporate Affairs Ministry has now stated that “foreign companies no longer need to get their documents certified at the Indian Embassy or High Commission in their respective countries and new rules will shortly come into place.”
More recently the Indian High Commission in London has stated that it will not re-authenticate a public document which has been apostilled by the UK Government (that is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office). The High Commission has confirmed that a document apostilled in the UK should be recognised in India.
Many clients tell their notaries that notwithstanding rules introduced by the Government, local practice in India may require them to produce a document which has been certified by the Indian High Commission. If legalisation is still required at the Indian High Commission the High Commission now requires the client to provide a prescribed undertaking.
If you are required to provide notarised documents for India why not call Mary McEvoy at Neves Solicitors on 01582 725311.
