Official certification; obtain from the municipality or administrative association

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

Certification of signatures officially confirms the authenticity of a signature or handwritten mark.

Certification of Documents

You may only have written or electronic documents officially certified if they were issued by a German government agency or are required for submission to another German government agency. The certification note is affixed to the copy or the electronic document.

You can go to the government agency in person or have someone represent you whom you have granted written power of attorney.

Signature Certification

The official certification of a signature confirms that you personally signed the accompanying text. Signatures are certified on documents that must be submitted to a German government agency or that must be submitted to another entity pursuant to a legal provision. Signatures and hand marks must generally be executed or acknowledged in the presence of the certifying official.

You must present an ID card or passport to the authority, along with the document on which the signature is to be affixed or has been affixed. The document must then be signed in the presence of the official, or the signature must be acknowledged. A certification note is then affixed.

Section 129 of the Civil Code provides for “public certification” of certain written statements (e.g., for documents to be submitted to the land registry office pursuant to Section 29 of the Land Registry Regulations). In these cases, public certification by a notary is generally required. An official certification by the municipality or administrative association is not sufficient for this purpose. Special statutory provisions also apply in other cases. For example, the issuance of certified copies from official registers is often reserved for the authority maintaining the register:

• Civil status records are not certified. Birth, marriage, civil partnership, and death certificates, as well as certified printouts from the respective civil status registers, are issued only by the civil registry office (see “Related Topics” – “Civil Status Record; Application”).
• Printouts from the register of associations or the land registry can only be certified by the respective local court.

The authenticity of public documents intended for use abroad that have been issued by courts, state authorities, or municipalities can be certified through legalization or the issuance of an apostille (see “Related Topics”). An official certification is generally not sufficient for use abroad.

• Identification card or passport
• When certifying a document: original document
• For the certification of a signature: document

There is a fee of 5 euros per certification, and 0.25 euros per page for copies.