What are the regulations on the expiry date of copies certified as true in Vietnam? When is the certified copy considered invalid?
What is certifying copies of originals as true in Vietnam?
According to Clause 2, Article 2 of Decree No. 23/2015/ND-CP, “Certifying copies of originals as true” means competent agencies as defined hereof shall certify copies of the originals as true based on the originals.
What are the regulations on the expiry date of copies certified as true in Vietnam? When is the certified copy considered invalid?
What are the regulations on the expiry date of copies certified as true in Vietnam?
According to Article 3 of Decree No. 23/2015/ND-CP on issuance of copies from master registers, certification of true copies of originals, authentication of signatures and authentication of contracts and transactions as follows:
Legal value of copies issued from master registers, copies certified as true from originals, authenticated signatures and contracts
1. Copies issued from master registers have legal value when being used as substitutes for originals in transactions except otherwise prescribed by the law;
2. Copies certified as true from originals under this Decree have legal value when being used as substitutes for originals in transactions except otherwise prescribed by the law;
3. Authenticated signatures under this Decree have legal value in determining signer and his/her liabilities for the paper, document signed.
4. Authenticated contract under this Decree has legal value in serving as evidence of the time and venue where the contract is executed; civil capacity, willingness, signatures or append fingerprints of contracting parties.
Thus, certified copies are not limited in validity period. Notarized and authenticated copies will be valid until the originals have expired, are withdrawn or destroyed.
At the same time, documents that often have fluctuations or changes during use such as business registration certificates, investment licenses..., the accepting officer has the right to request the involved parties to present the originals for comparison but do not have the right to ask the involved party to submit a new copy.
Based on the above analyzed content on the legal value of the certified copy from the original, it is valid to use instead of the original used for comparison when authenticating. The shelf life of the copy will depend on the shelf life of the original.
For example, the expiry date of the judicial record card is usually 6 months or 1 year from the date of issue, depending on the case, the value of the copy of the criminal record card is also valid for the short term as the original mentioned above.
For example, for a degree, in principle, this type of document is valid indefinitely, so a copy of the diploma is also valid indefinitely, unless it is revoked or canceled.
When is the certified copy considered invalid?
The value of certified documents, notarized documents that do not comply with the regulations mentioned in Article 7 of Circular 01/2020/TT-BTP, specifically:
Legal value of documents illegally authenticated
1. Documents authenticated from master registers and signatures authenticated against regulations under Decree No. 23/2015/ND-CP and this Circular shall have no legal value.
2. Chairpersons of People’s Committees of districts are responsible for issuing decisions on annulling legal value of documents specified in Clause 1 with respect to documents authenticated by Departments of Legal Affairs. Chairpersons of People’s Committees of communes are responsible for annulling legal value of documents specified in Clause 1 of this Article with respect to documents authenticated by agencies of their own.
After issuing documents on annulling documents, Chairpersons of People’s Committees of districts and Chairpersons of People’s Committees of communes are responsible for uploading information regarding authenticated documents having no legal value on website of provincial People’s Committees.
3. Heads of representative missions, consular missions and other agencies authorized to exercise Vietnamese consular functions overseas are responsible for issuing documents annulling legal value of documents specified in Clause 1 of this Article with respect to documents authenticated by agencies under their management and uploading authenticated documents having no legal value on website of their agencies.
4. Issuance of documents annulling legal value and uploading of implementation information shall be performed as soon as documents are found to be contradictory to regulations and law.
Thus, the certified copy from the original is considered illegal and will not be valid in the above cases.
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