Authentication of documents

Unlike a private instrument, an authenticated notarial document is the result of rigorous professional verification and carries greater legal authority than any private document. The public notary, entrusted by law with performing a service of public interest, checks that the conditions of substance and form are met, examines the legality of each clause and satisfies themselves that the document expresses the free and genuine will of all the parties, preventing disputes through their intervention. The result of that verification is an act of public authority, with the evidential force and, where applicable, the enforceable force laid down by law, a legal force that no private document can have.

(1) An authenticated instrument constitutes full proof, against any person, until it is declared a forgery, as to the findings made personally by the person who authenticated it, under the conditions laid down by law.

(2) The parties' declarations contained in an authenticated instrument constitute proof, until the contrary is shown, both between the parties and against any other person.

Article 270 of the Code of Civil Procedure

Preservation of authenticated documents

The care taken over your document does not end at signature. The original is kept in the archive of the notarial office or of the Chamber of Public Notaries, archives of public utility, for the periods laid down by law, some categories of document being kept permanently. If the duplicate you receive at signature is damaged or lost, you can obtain a new duplicate at any time from the notary who executed the document or from the person responsible for keeping their archive. This is a guarantee that no private document can offer you.

When authentication is compulsory

The law requires the authenticated notarial form as a condition of validity for certain legal acts. Legal acts for which the law requires the authenticated form may be drafted only by public notaries. The most frequent such documents include sale contracts concerning immovable property, immovable mortgage contracts, contracts of gift, matrimonial agreements, authenticated wills, powers of attorney for documents creating or transferring ownership, and parental agreements in divorce proceedings.

Any other instrument may be authenticated at your request, even where the law does not require it.

How the authentication procedure works

An instrument is authenticated in the following stages:

1. 01

   Verification of identity

   If the public notary does not know you personally, they establish your identity on the basis of the identity documents laid down by law or, under the conditions laid down by law, on the basis of a passport. Identity may also be attested by the lawyer assisting you.

   The mandatory identification details for a Romanian natural person are: surname, given name, personal numerical code and domicile or habitual residence.

2. 02

   Expression of consent

   After the document has been read, the public notary will ask you whether you have understood its content and whether what it contains expresses your will. The public notary is required to clarify the legal relations between the parties, to check that the purpose pursued complies with the law and to give you the necessary guidance on the legal effects of the document.

   Consent is expressed through signature.

3. 03

   Signing the document

   An authenticated document is signed in one copy together with the annexes forming an integral part of it, before the public notary. If you cannot sign because of an infirmity, illness or other objective cause, the public notary makes express mention of that circumstance in the authentication ruling, and the presence of two attesting witnesses stands in place of the signature.

4. 04

   The authentication ruling

   The public notary draws up a ruling recording that all the legal conditions have been met. It contains, among other things, the finding that the parties' consent was taken, the finding that the instrument was signed before the notary by all those required to sign it, and the direction conferring authenticated form, expressed in the words: „This instrument is hereby declared authentic."

Documents authenticated through an interpreter

Notarial documents are drawn up in Romanian. If you do not speak or understand Romanian, you may learn the content of the document only through an authorised translator or interpreter, who will sign the ruling alongside the public notary.

What document you receive

An authenticated notarial document is drawn up in a single original copy, which is kept in the archive of the notarial office. You receive a duplicate of the original document, which has the same evidential force as the original.

Representation by a representative

You may be represented at authentication by a representative holding a special authenticated power of attorney, except in the cases laid down by law where your personal presence is compulsory. The public notary checks the power of attorney in the National Notarial Register of Powers of Attorney and their Revocation. If the power of attorney has been revoked or the principal has died, the application for authentication will be refused.

What is the legal force of an authenticated document?

The law distinguishes between two categories of findings contained in an authenticated document:

Enforceable force

An instrument authenticated by a public notary that records a certain and liquid claim (for example a loan contract, or a contract containing an obligation to deliver an asset by a given date) has the force of an enforceable title as at the date the claim falls due.

A parental agreement authenticated by a public notary, by which the parents agree on where the child will live, how personal ties with the minor will be maintained and other matters they may settle under the law, also constitutes an enforceable title.

When authentication may be refused

A public notary will refuse to draw up a document if it is contrary to the law and to good morals. Your application may also be refused for:

• failure to produce the necessary documentation, or producing it incompletely;
• non-payment of the charges, the tax and the fee set;
• the impossibility of establishing your identity, or a lack of judgement.

The refusal is reasoned in a ruling of rejection, which states the means of challenge and the competent court. If you disagree with the refusal, you may lodge a complaint within 10 days of notification, with the district court in whose territorial district the public notary practises.

What authentication costs

Minimum notarial fees are set by the Rules on minimum fee scales, approved by Order of the Minister of Justice. The notary may set a higher fee depending on the complexity of the document, but never below the statutory minimum.

There are two types of fee: fixed amounts, for documents that cannot be valued in money (for example a simple declaration, which will cost a minimum of 50 lei), and percentage fees by value band, for documents that can be valued in money, where the percentage falls as the value rises. For a property sale contract, the fee starts at 2.2% of the transaction value (but not less than 230 lei) and decreases progressively for larger sums. Full details and worked examples can be found in the Fees and charges section →

Fee reductions can be granted only in the cases expressly laid down by law, for certain social categories, for documents under the First Home programme or for claiming social entitlements.

Other sums payable for the authentication procedure

The notary also collects, on behalf of other institutions, sums that are not their own income: the tax on income from the transfer of immovable property (owed by the seller, paid over to the State budget), the land publicity charge (for registering the right in the land register, paid over to ANCPI), VAT applied to the notarial fee, charges paid for carrying out checks needed for authentication, and so on. Details in the Fees and charges section →