1. General
The authority of a diplomatic and consular representative to utilize notarial powers abroad derives from Section 50 (A) of the Notaries Law, 5736 - 1976. Under this law, such an action performed by the representative by virtue of these powers is equivalent to the act of a notary.
Notarization must be performed in the physical presence of the diplomatic / consular representative.
Israeli missions abroad are not authorized to prepare or edit legal documents.
2. Notarizations provided by the mission
The notarizations provided by the mission under the law and its provisions:
- Verification of signatures
- Verification of the signatures and stamps of the official institutions and officials in the country in which the mission is serving, in countries that are not signatories to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents - 1961 (apostille).
- Life certificates
- Certification of the accuracy of a document copy
- Taking and certifying affidavits
- Certifying expert opinions and medical certificates
- Certification of wills
The diplomatic / consular representative will not notarize documents in the following circumstances:
- The act is not performed freely and willingly.
- The act contravenes the laws of the country in which the mission is serving.
- The document is fraudulent and/or violates the law.
- The document is incomplete or defective.
- If the representative or the signatory does not know the language of the document, the translation will be implemented under special conditions that are specified in the relevant legislation.
Comment: The diplomatic / consular representative may exercise discretion regarding each notarization and he may refuse to notarize a document if he is not convinced that all the legal requirements have been met.
3. Original documents and copies
The mission is authorized to confirm that a particular document is a certified copy of another document, subject to internal guidelines. If it is necessary to verify the copies of original documents, the mission's Consular Department will photocopy the original document in order to ascertain that the copy is identical to the original and will then issue the certification. Photocopies of documents that were not made by the mission's Consular Department will not be accepted.
4. Identification of the person requesting the service
The representative will identify the citizen by means of his passport, identity card or other public document bearing a picture of the citizen, which is satisfactory to the diplomatic / consular representative.
Identification for the purpose of signing a document to be used in a real estate transaction will be performed solely by means of an identity card or a passport.