[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: 22CFR92.66]

[Page 390-391]
 
                       TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS
 
                     CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE
 
PART 92_NOTARIAL AND RELATED SERVICES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 92.66  Depositions taken before foreign officials or other persons 
in a foreign country.

    (a) Customary practice. Under Federal law (Rule 28(b), Rules of 
Civil Procedure for the District Courts of the United States) and under 
the laws of some of the States, a commission to take depositions can be 
issued to a foreign official or to a private person in a foreign 
country. However, this method is rarely used; commissions are generally 
issued to U.S. notarizing officers. In those countries where U.S. 
notarizing officers are not permitted to take testimony (see Sec. 
92.55(c)) and where depositions must be taken before a foreign 
authority, letters rogatory are usually issued to a foreign court.
    (b) Transmission of letters rogatory to foreign officials. Letters 
rogatory may often be sent direct from court to court. However, some 
foreign governments require that these requests for judicial aid be 
submitted through the diplomatic channel (i.e., that they be submitted 
to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs by the American diplomatic 
representative). A usual requirement is that the letters rogatory as 
well as the interrogatories and other papers included with them be 
accompanied by a complete translation into the language (or into one of 
the languages) of the country of execution. Another requirement is that 
provision be made for the payment of fees and expenses. Inquiries from 
interested parties or their attorneys, or from American courts, as to 
customary procedural requirements in given countries, may be addressed 
direct to the respective American embassies and legations in foreign 
capitals, or to the Department of State, Washington, DC 20520.
    (c) Return of letters rogatory executed by foreign officials. (1) 
Letters rogatory executed by foreign officials are returned through the 
same channel by which they were initially transmitted. When such 
documents are returned to a United States diplomatic mission, the 
responsible officer should endorse thereon a certificate stating the 
date and place of their receipt. This certificate should be appended to 
the documents as a separate sheet. The officer should then enclose the 
documents in an envelope sealed with the wax engraving seal of the post 
and bearing an endorsement indicating the title of the action to which 
the letters rogatory pertain. The name and address of the American 
judicial body from which the

[[Page 391]]

letters rogatory issued should also be placed on the envelope.
    (2) If the executed letters rogatory are returned to the diplomatic 
mission from the Foreign Office in an envelope bearing the seals of the 
foreign judicial authority who took the testimony, that sealed envelope 
should not be opened at the mission. The responsible officer should 
place a certificate on the envelope showing the date it was received at 
his office and indicating that it is being forwarded in the same 
condition as received from the foreign authorities. He should then place 
that sealed envelope in a second envelope, sealed with the wax engraving 
seal of the post, and bearing the title of the action and the name and 
address of the American judicial body from which the letters rogatory 
issued.
    (3) Charges should be made for executing either of the certificates 
mentioned in paragraphs (c) (1) and (2) of this section, as prescribed 
by item 67 of the Tariff of Fees, Foreign Service of the United States 
of America (Sec. 22.1 of this chapter), unless the service is 
classifiable in a no-fee category under the exemption for Federal 
agencies and corporations (item 83 of the same Tariff).
    (4) The sealed letters rogatory should be transmitted by appropriate 
means to the court in which the action is pending. See title 28, section 
1781, of the United States Code concerning the manner of making return 
to a court of the United States (Federal court).
    (d) Transmissions of commissions to foreign officials or other 
persons. A commission to take depositions which is addressed to an 
official or person in a foreign country other than a United States 
notarizing officer may be sent directly to the person designated. 
However, if such a commission is sent to the United States diplomatic 
mission in the country where the depositions are intended to be taken, 
it should be forwarded to the Foreign Office for transmission to the 
person appointed in the commission. If sent to a United States consular 
office, the commission may be forwarded by that office directly to the 
person designated, or, if the notarial officer deems it more advisable 
to do so, he may send the commission to the United States diplomatic 
mission for transmission through the medium of the foreign office.

[22 FR 10858, Dec. 27, 1957, as amended at 32 FR 11775, Aug. 16, 1967; 
60 FR 51722, Oct. 3, 1995]