What is Certification?

According to the provisions in Clause 2, Article 2 Decree 23/2015/ND-CP, certification is the act of an authorized agency or organization, based on the original document, to certify that the copy is true to the original.

Depending on the type of documents and papers, certification is carried out by different agencies and entities such as:

- District-level Departments of Justice: Head, Deputy Head;- People's Committees of communes, wards, and commune-level towns: Chairman, Vice-Chairman of the People's Committee;- Diplomatic missions, consular representations, and other agencies authorized to perform consular functions of Vietnam abroad: Diplomatic officials, consular public employees;- Notary offices, notary public offices: Notaries;

Certification activities include the following tasks:

- Certification of copies from originals is the act of an authorized agency or organization under this Decree that, based on the original document, certifies the copy as true to the original.- Certification of signatures is the act of an authorized agency or organization under this Decree that certifies that the signature in the document is the signature of the requesting person.- Certification of contracts, transactions is the act of an authorized agency under this Decree that certifies the time, place of signing the contract, transaction; civil capacity, voluntary intent, signatures, or fingerprints of the parties involved in the contract, transaction.

Certified documents, papers, contracts, and transactions have the following legal values:

- The certified copy from the original is valid for use as a substitute for the original used for comparison in transactions, except where otherwise provided by law;- The certified signature proves that the requesting person has signed the signature, serving as a basis to determine the responsibility of the signer for the content of the document;- The certified contract, transaction serves as evidence to prove the time, place the parties have signed the contract, transaction; civil capacity, voluntary intent, signatures, or fingerprints of the parties involved.

The language used for certifying contracts and transactions is Vietnamese. In cases where the requesting person is not proficient in Vietnamese, a translator must be present.

The person performing the certification must ensure honesty, accuracy, and objectivity when performing the certification, and is liable before the law for their certification activities.

See more regulations on certification at Decree 23/2015/ND-CP and related guiding documents.

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