Signature certification

What it means

Signature attestation, informally a certified or legalised signature, is official confirmation that a specific person signed a document. The certifying officer checks the signatory’s identity and that they signed in the officer’s presence or acknowledged the signature as their own. The content of the document is not examined.

Signatures are attested by a notary, in many places also by the municipality, and abroad by a Slovak embassy or consulate. For use in another country an apostille or consular legalisation is often added, depending on the destination.

The law requires an attested signature on documents with significant legal consequences, such as a share transfer agreement, a new director’s consent to registration, a power of attorney for the register or a property owner’s consent to a registered office.

How it works in practice

For changes in the commercial register we first check which documents really need an attested signature. Many can now be signed with a qualified electronic signature, which has the same effect and saves a trip to the notary.

If shareholders or new directors are abroad, we prepare bilingual documents, arrange attestation at a consulate or with a local notary and obtain the apostille and certified translation. A wrongly legalised document is the most common reason the registry court sends an application back.

When contracts involve larger sums, especially share transfers or loan security, we recommend an attested signature even where the law does not strictly require it. It then becomes hard to dispute later who signed the document. When a director changes, we also remember the new specimen signature at the bank.

What to watch out for

Attestation does not confirm that a document is correct or valid. If a contract contains an error or breaches the law, an attested signature will not save it. For important documents we therefore recommend a legal review of the content, and for some acts the law even requires a notarial deed.

A document cannot be signed in advance and attested later without the signatory present. The signatory must attend in person with valid ID, and when signing on someone’s behalf must also produce a power of attorney bearing an attested signature.