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Whether you require assistance with acquiring apostilled documents, or if you have any general questions about Irish company formation, Coddan can help. In all situations, we aim to provide the most cost-effective and comprehensive services. Take a look at the other services we offer:
You can request your Irish company via our online order form. Company formation is usually completed within 5-10 business days, allotting for approximately 7 additional business days for a Section 43 bond, if needed. It only takes minutes to enter your details and to submit a registration form.

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Apostilled Documents for Irish Companies:
Before certain corporate documents can be used overseas, document authentication may be necessary. Normally, when overseas officials are not able to determine the authenticity of documents from the Republic of Ireland, they may require notarisation or official certification of those documents, and many countries refer to this as an “apostille”. In 1961, many nations joined together to create a simplified method of apostilling, or "legalising", documents for the purpose of universal recognition, and to confirm that a signature, seal or stamp appearing on a document is genuine. Members of the conference, referred to as the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, adopted a document referred to as an Apostille that would be recognised by all member nations. The result of the Hague Convention was that there would be abolishment of the requirement of diplomatic and consular legalisation for public documents originating in one Convention country and intended for use in another. Therefore, if the country belongs to the Hague Convention, the apostille is used, and the document is entitled to recognition in the country of intended use, without the need for any further authentication or legalization, which is a long, cumbersome process. The Hague Convention applies "to public documents which have been executed in the territory of one Contracting State and which have to be produced in the territory of another Contracting State”, so apostilles are not needed for those documents of Irish companies that are intended for use within the Republic of Ireland.

Authentication vs. Legalisation:
Authenticating a document means verifying the signature of the person and/or the seal or stamp it bears, while legalising the document means authenticating it for the purpose of making it acceptable to an Irish court. The apostille or legalisation certificate attached to the document by the Consular Section of the Department of Foreign Affairs confirms that the signature, seal or stamp on the document is genuine. However, it does not mean that the contents of the document are correct or that the Department of Foreign Affairs approves of the contents. An apostille involves the addition of a certificate, either stamped on the document itself or attached to the document, and this certifies:

the country of origin of the document
the name and identity of the signature
capacity in which a document has been signed
the name of any authority which has affixed a seal or stamp to the document
place
date
company number
official seal

The apostille enables the presenter to bypass further certification and immediately send or take the documents to the country of intended use. Also, it should be known that the apostille attests to the validity of the signature of the notary public or county official, but not of the underlying signature nor of the contents of the document.

What is a Notary?
A Notary is a public officer who has the authority to witness and to attest to certain documents, such as deeds, agreements, or powers of attorney, making these documents official and legal in most countries in the world. The signature and official seal of a Notary are how notaries identify themselves, and they also act as evidence to the authenticity of writings to make documents recognised internationally. A Notary's seal will be registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ireland and with many foreign embassies and consulates. You will need a Notary if you require authorisation of documents and information to be used in foreign countries; or if you need translation of documents for use abroad; or if you want to buy a property abroad; or if you have business overseas and if your business is exporting its products; and, finally, if you are involved in litigation in foreign Courts, you will require an apostille. All countries require documents to be notarized, and, additionally, for most of the documents going to other countries, an Apostille will also need to be obtained. Those countries that were not a part of the Hague Convention would also require a legalisation from the Consulate. A Notary identifies himself on documents by the use of his individual seal. Such seals have historical origins and are regarded by most other countries as of great importance for establishing the genuineness of a document. Photocopies of any documents must also be true copies of the original, and this is proved with the signature of an Irish notary public (or a practicing solicitor); furthermore, the solicitor should sign their own name, and not the name of the practice.

Certificate of Incorporation:
Once all company details are registered at the CRO, and appropriate fees are paid, the Companies Registry will issue an original Certificate of Incorporation; however, in order to conduct business outside of the Republic of Ireland, an apostille is required and will guarantee the authenticity of the Certificate of Incorporation originally provided by the CRO.

Certificate of Good Standing:
The Companies Registration Office can issue a Certificate of Good Standing, which is also known as a Certificate of Existence or Certificate of Authorisation, to confirm that the company has been in continuous and unbroken existence since the date of its incorporation. This document also proves to outside parties that no action is currently being taken by the Registrar of Companies for striking the company off the register, and as far as the Registrar is aware, the company is not in liquidation or subject to an administration order, nor is the company’s property to be taken, or seized. Good Standing Certificates may be requested by various interested parties, but the most common reason for obtaining one is to satisfy a bank or finance company.

Power of Attorney (POA):
A power of attorney is a document whereby one person confers on another the right to act on his or her behalf and in that respect the attorney can act just as though he or she were the donor of the power. This type of “power” can be used, for instance, to operate bank accounts or to sign documents or deeds, and is utilised often in the case of nominee directors or secretaries. It is very common to require an apostilled POA document for use in various business situations, in order to show that the true owner of a company has legally given an outside representative the right to sign certain documents on behalf of the company itself.

An apostille is often needed in adoptions, extraditions, and certain business transactions. (Apostille) of documents by the Foreign and Commonwealth office for use by banks and other authorities overseas that support the Hague Convention. The apostille is formatted in numbered fields that allow data to be understood by the receiving country regardless of the official language of the issuing country.

Convention Abolishing The Requirement Of Legalisation For Foreign Public Documents (Concluded October 5, 1961):
The signatory of the Republic of Ireland to the present Convention, which desires to abolish the requirement of diplomatic or consular legalisation for foreign public documents, has resolved to agree upon the following provisions:

Article 1: The present Convention shall apply to public documents which have been executed in the territory of one Contracting State and which have to be produced in the territory of another Contracting State. For the purposes of the present Convention, the following are deemed to be public documents: a) documents emanating from an authority or an official connected with the courts or tribunals of the State, including those emanating from a public prosecutor, a clerk of a court or a process-server ("huissier de justice"); b) administrative documents; c) notarial acts; d) official certificates which are placed on documents signed by persons in their private capacity, such as official certificates recording the registration of a document or the fact that it was in existence on a certain date and official and notarial authentications of signatures.

Article 2: Each Contracting State shall exempt from legalisation documents to which the present Convention applies and which have to be produced in its territory. For the purposes of the present Convention, legalisation means only the formality by which the diplomatic or consular agents of the country in which the document has to be produced certify the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted and, where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which it bears.

Article 3: The only formality that may be required in order to certify the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted and, where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which it bears, is the addition of the certificate described in Article 4, issued by the competent authority of the State from which the document emanates.

Article 4: The certificate referred to in the first paragraph of Article 3 shall be placed on the document itself or on an "allonge", it shall be in the form of the model annexed to the present Convention. It may, however, be drawn up in the official language of the authority which issues it. The standard terms appearing therein may be in a second language also. The title "Apostille (Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)" shall be in the French language.

Article 5: The certificate shall be issued at the request of the person who has signed the document or of any bearer.

Article 6: Each Contracting State shall designate by reference to their official function, the authorities who are competent to issue the certificate referred to in the first paragraph of Article 3.

Article 7: Each of the authorities designated in accordance with Article 6 shall keep a register or card index in which it shall record the certificates issued, specifying: a) the number and date of the certificate, b) the name of the person signing the public document and the capacity in which he has acted, or in the case of unsigned documents, the name of the authority which has affixed the seal or stamp.

Article 8: When a treaty, convention or agreement between two or more Contracting States contains provisions which subject the certification of a signature, seal or stamp to certain formalities, the present Convention will only override such provisions if those formalities are more rigorous than the formality referred to in Articles 3 and 4.

Article 9: Each Contracting State shall take the necessary steps to prevent the performance of legalisations by its diplomatic or consular agents in cases where the present Convention provides for exemption.

Article 10: The present Convention shall be open for signature by the States represented at the Ninth Session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law and Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein and Turkey. It shall be ratified, and the instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

Article 11: The present Convention shall enter into force on the sixtieth day after the deposit of the third instrument of ratification referred to in the second paragraph of Article 10. The Convention shall enter into force for each signatory State which ratifies subsequently on the sixtieth day after the deposit of its instrument of ratification.

Article 12: Any State not referred to in Article 10 may accede to the present Convention after it has entered into force in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 11. The instrument of accession shall be deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

Article 13: Any State may, at the time of signature, ratification or accession, declare that the present Convention shall extend to all the territories for the international relations of which it is responsible, or to one or more of them. Such a declaration shall take effect on the date of entry into force of the Convention for the State concerned. At any time thereafter, such extensions shall be notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. When the declaration of extension is made by a State which has signed and ratified, the Convention shall enter into force for the territories concerned in accordance with Article 11. When the declaration of extension is made by a State which has acceded, the Convention shall enter into force for the territories concerned in accordance with Article 12.

Article 14: The present Convention shall remain in force for five years from the date of its entry into force in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 11, even for States which have ratified it or acceded to it subsequently. If there has been no denunciation, the Convention shall be renewed tacitly every five years. Any denunciation shall be notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands at least six months before the end of the five-year period. It may be limited to certain of the territories to which the Convention applies. The denunciation will only have effect as regards the State which has notified it. The Convention shall remain in force for the other Contracting States.

Article 15: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands shall give notice to the States referred to in Article 10, and to the States which have acceded in accordance with Article 12, of the following: a) the notifications referred to in the second paragraph of Article 6; b) the signatures and ratifications referred to in Article 10; c) the date on which the present Convention enters into force in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 11; d) the accessions and objections referred to in Article 12 and the date on which such accessions take effect; e) the extensions referred to in Article 13 and the date on which they take effect; f) the denunciations referred to in the third paragraph of Article 14.

Coddan aims to provide you with the tools you need to move forward with your Irish company formation. Whether you want to form a new company, ask us about our assistance with getting your document legalised, or to inquire about further information, contact us today.

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