[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 22, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 22CFR92.37]

[Page 382]
 
                       TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS
 
                     CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE
 
PART 92_NOTARIAL AND RELATED SERVICES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 92.37  Authentication procedure.

    (a) The consular officer must compare the foreign official's seal 
and signature on the document he is asked to authenticate with a 
specimen of the same official's seal and signature on file either in the 
Foreign Service office or in a foreign public office to which he has 
access. If no specimen is available to the consular officer, he should 
require that each signature and seal be authenticated by some higher 
official or officials of the foreign government until there appears on 
the document a seal and signature which he can compare with a specimen 
available to him. However, this procedure of having a document 
authenticated by a series of foreign officials should be followed only 
where unusual circumstances, or the laws or regulations of the foreign 
country require it.
    (b) Where the State law requires the consular officer's certificate 
of authentication to show that the foreign official is empowered to 
perform a particular act, such as administering an oath or taking an 
acknowledgment, the consular officer must verify the fact that the 
foreign official is so empowered.
    (c) When the consular officer has satisfactorily identified the 
foreign seal and signature (and, where required, has verified the 
authority of the foreign official to perform a particular act), he may 
then execute a certificate of authentication, either placing this 
certificate on the document itself if space is available, or appending 
it to the document on a separate sheet (see Sec. 92.17 on the fastening 
of notarial certificates).