The official certification of signatures serves to verify identity. The competent authority may certify signatures if

• the signed document is required for submission to a German authority or other body to which the signed document must be submitted on the basis of a legal provision and
• the signature is made in the presence of the certifying employee.

Signatures may not be officially notarizedif:

• they require public certification by a notary (Section 129 of the German Civil Code (BGB)) e.g.
  • Authentication of signatures under contracts or declarations in the field of family and inheritance law;
  • in association and commercial register matters;
• they are submitted without an accompanying text (blank signatures),
• the document submitted is not required for submission to an authority or other body to which the signed document must be submitted on the basis of a legal provision (e.g. so-called "Reichsbürgererklärungen und -urkunden") or reading through is refused,
• documents are written in a foreign language.