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Services for Australians
[ Notarial Services: Witnessing or Certifying Documents ]
This page should be read in conjunction with the page on our website headed Notarial Services.
Consular officers at the Australian Consulate-General can witness signatures and seals on a variety of legal documents such as wills or powers of attorney, initial alterations, interlineations or erasures in documents; administer oaths or statutory declarations; and mark exhibits to an affidavit or statutory declaration.
It is your responsibility to present the document to be witnessed in the correct form and to provide the correct instructions from your legal advisor for witnessing. Consular Officers at the Australian Consulate-General are not empowered to draw up legal documents or guarantee the legal effectiveness of documents witnessed by them. Nor are they able to provide any legal relating to any documents witnessed. If you are unsure of the legislative requirements relating to the witnessing of a particular document, you are advised to seek independent legal advice.
Consular officers can also certify copies of documents. However, all they are enabled to state on that confirmation is that the copy of the document is a "true copy" of an original document sighted by them on a certain date. If you wish a different form of words to be attached to a copy of a document, Consular Officers are not able to provide that service. You should consult independent legal advice concerning this matter. You should also be aware that some jurisdictions allow only the originator of official documents to certify copies of those documents and as such, it is your responsibility to ensure that the end user of the certified copy of a document will accept the statement made by a Consular Officer from the Australian Consulate-General on a copy of a document presented to them.
If you require a document to be certified as a true copy, you will need to bring along the original of the document and a copy at least A4 size or larger if the original document is larger. If you require us to copy the document for you, an additional fee will apply.