Certification of a Power of Attorney and Other Documents for Use in the Czech Republic

Where and How to Certify a Power of Attorney FOR Use in the Czech Republic

To clarify once again, the information below concerns certification of a power of attorney for use in the Czech Republic — in other words, a situation where the principal is outside the Czech Republic and grants a power of attorney to someone who will represent the principal in the Czech Republic in the relevant matters or before the relevant organizations.

There are currently two basic options:

• Certification at a Czech consulate

• Certification by a notary in the country where you are located

We explain each option in detail below. The language in which the power of attorney should be drafted will also depend on the method of certification.

Certification of a Power of Attorney at a Czech Consulate or Embassy

We should say straight away that this is the best available option (we explain why below), provided that you have access to a Czech consulate or embassy.

If a power of attorney for use in the Czech Republic is certified at a Czech consulate, the document can be drafted and certified directly in Czech. Such a document is accepted in the Czech Republic without any issues because, in effect, it has been certified directly by a Czech authority.

There is also no need to be concerned about visiting a Czech embassy or consulate. Their staff are quite familiar with this procedure, and in many cases having a power of attorney certified this way is actually easier than going to a local notary. It is also inexpensive: as far as we know, a Czech consulate charges approximately EUR 15–20 to certify one power of attorney. The main difficulty is that the power of attorney needs to be drafted in Czech (contact us, and we can prepare it).

There are many Czech consulates and embassies around the world. You can find the one nearest to you on the official website of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs; a direct link to the page containing the list is provided below:

Czech Embassies and Consulates Abroad

The website is in English and is fairly easy to navigate (if necessary, you can use the automatic translation feature now available in almost every browser). Please note that there is an alphabetical country index at the top of the page, which will help you find the relevant location.

Each embassy and consulate has different arrangements for receiving visitors, depending on how busy it is. For example, you can contact them by email (staff usually speak the language of the country where the consulate is located, or you can write in English). They do not always respond quickly, but they generally do respond. You can also call, although reaching them by phone is not always easy. Some consulates accept visitors during designated opening hours without an appointment, but we strongly recommend contacting them in advance in one way or another to confirm the procedure.

Certification of a Power of Attorney for the Czech Republic by a Local Notary

This is an alternative if there is no Czech embassy or consulate accessible to you. There are many nuances here, and everything depends on the country and the requirements of local notaries.

In practice, we encounter two main situations:

• The notary certifies only the signature, not the text of the power of attorney itself. In this case, the notary does not review the content of the power of attorney, so a power of attorney for the Czech Republic can be drafted directly in Czech or, for example, in English. This is a fairly simple option, but it is not available everywhere.

• The notary certifies the content of the power of attorney itself. In this case, the power of attorney needs to be drafted in the local language. This is the situation we encounter more frequently; for example, powers of attorney are certified this way in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.

A power of attorney certified by a notary in another country can also be used in the Czech Republic without any fundamental problem, but the following complications may arise:

• An apostille may additionally be required for recognition in the Czech Republic for documents from many countries. Our website has a tool for checking whether an apostille is required for use in the Czech Republic. You can use it to find information on how documents from the particular country you need are accepted in the Czech Republic. Apostilles are issued differently in different countries, and in some countries obtaining one can be difficult or expensive.

• A certified translation of the document into Czech will be required. This is entirely manageable, as there are many translators in the Czech Republic working with a wide range of languages. For a power of attorney intended for use in the Czech Republic, we recommend having the translation prepared by a translator located in the Czech Republic.

Using a power of attorney for the Czech Republic certified by a local notary is slightly more complicated than using a document certified by a Czech consulate, but it is still entirely feasible. We have used powers of attorney from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan many times before various Czech public authorities, and the documents were accepted.