[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: 22CFR92.77]

[Page 397]
 
                       TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS
 
                     CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE
 
PART 92_NOTARIAL AND RELATED SERVICES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 92.77  Recording documents.

    (a) Consular authority. Consular officers may, at their discretion, 
accept for recording in the Miscellaneous Record Book of the office 
concerned unofficial documents such as deeds, leases, agreements, wills, 
and so on. The object of this service is primarily to afford United 
States citizens and interests the means of preserving, in official 
custody, records of their business and other transactions where other 
suitable facilities are not available locally for making such records. 
The recording of unofficial documents is not a notarial service, 
strictly speaking; however, the certifying of copies of documents thus 
recorded is a notarial service.
    (b) Recording procedure. Generally, before accepting a document for 
recording the consular officer should require satisfactory proof of its 
genuineness. The document should be copied, word for word, in the 
Miscellaneous Record Book. At the close of the record a statement that 
it is a true copy of the original should be entered and signed by the 
consular officer who copies or compares the record. In the margin of the 
first page where the document is recorded, the consular officer should 
note the following data:
    (1) By whom the document is presented for recording;
    (2) On whose behalf the service is requested;
    (3) Date and hour of presentation for recording;
    (4) How the authenticity of the document was proved (where 
appropriate); and
    (5) The name of the person by whom recorded (in his proper 
signature) and the name of the consular officer with whom compared (in 
his proper signature).
    (c) Certificate of recording. Ordinarily, a certificate of recording 
need not be issued. The original document may simply be endorsed: 
``Recorded at (name and location of consular office) this ---------- day 
of ------------------, 19----, in (here insert appropriate reference to 
volume of Miscellaneous Record Book)''. Below the endorsement should 
appear the notation regarding the service number, the Tariff item 
number, and the amount of the fee collected. When a certificate of 
recording is requested, the consular officer may issue it, if he sees 
fit to do so. The certificate may be either entered on the document, if 
space permits, or appended to the document as a separate sheet in the 
manner prescribed in Sec. 92.17.
    (d) Fees. The fee for recording unofficial documents at a Foreign 
Service post is as prescribed under the caption ``Copying and 
Recording'' of the Tariff of Fees, Foreign Service of the United States 
of America (Sec. 22.1 of this chapter). For purposes of assessment of 
fees, the issuance of certificates of recording, when requested, shall 
be regarded as part of the consular service of recording unofficial 
documents, and no separate fee shall be charged for the certificate.