Public documents

Czechia

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Czechia

Article 24(1)(a) - languages accepted by the Member State for the public documents to be presented to its authorities pursuant to point (a) of Article 6(1)

Czech, Slovak

Article 24(1)(b) – an indicative list of public documents falling within the scope of this Regulation

  • birth certificate;
  • marriage certificate;
  • death certificate;
  • registered-partnership certificate;
  • certificate of legal capacity to marry;
  • certificate of legal capacity to enter into a registered partnership;
  • verbatim extract from the family register;
  • confirmation of data entered in the family register;
  • confirmation of data set out in the document registry or in the duplicate family register kept until 31 December 1958;
  • decision permitting a change of forename or surname,
  • confirmation of marriage;
  • criminal records extract for natural persons;
  • notary’s certificate confirming that somebody is alive;
  • provision of data from the population register to a natural person;
  • certificate containing an affirmative declaration from parents on the paternity of a child (born or unborn);
  • confirmation of marriage (issued by a Czech embassy or consulate);
  • court decisions concerning the facts set out in Article 2(1) of the Regulation, for example:

judgment determining the date of birth of a minor;

judgment declaring a person dead;

judgment determining a person’s valid date of death;

judgment granting a minor permission to marry;

judgment recognising a minor’s legal capacity;

divorce judgment;

judgment declaring paternity,

judgment declaring maternity;

judgment on the adoption of a minor or judgment on the adoption of an adult.

Article 24(1)(c) – the list of public documents to which multilingual standard forms may be attached as a suitable translation aid

  • Birth certificate (Birth)
  • Death certificate (Death)
  • Marriage certificate (Marriage)
  • Certificate of legal capacity to marry (Capacity to marry)
  • Registered-partnership certificate (Registered partnership)
  • Certificate of legal capacity to enter into a registered partnership (Capacity to enter into a registered partnership)
  • Criminal records extract for natural persons (Absence of a criminal record in the Member State of nationality of the person concerned)
  • Provision of data from the population register to a natural person (Domicile and/or residence)

Article 24(1)(d) – the lists of persons qualified, in accordance with national law, to carry out certified translations, where such lists exist

Under Czech law, there is no limitation on the public documents that sworn translators are authorised to translate.

  • Czech embassies and consulates verify the accuracy of translations of public documents under Section 18(3)(e) of Act No 150/2017 on external service.

In practice, and in particular in the case of the translations into Czech of civil-registry documents issued by another State, either the applicant provides their own translation of the public document, the accuracy of which is verified by the embassy/consulate, or the embassy/consulate itself carries out the translation and subsequently verifies it.

Once the embassy/consulate has assessed the accuracy of the translation of a public document submitted by the applicant or made by the embassy/consulate, it affixes a stamp certifying accuracy. Verification of translation accuracy is performed only if the translation produced by the applicant is correct and is accompanied by the original or an officially certified copy of the document against which the translation is to be verified.

The embassy/consulate may refuse to verify the accuracy of the translation of a public document if the consular officer lacks sufficient knowledge of the language in which the document is drafted or if the authorities of the State in which the embassy/consulate has jurisdiction do not recognise translations done or certified at an embassy/consulate.

Czech embassies/consulates are not translators.

Article 24(1)(e) – an indicative list of types of authorities empowered by national law to make certified copies

Certification that a document is a true copy of an original document (confirmation of authenticity) is carried out by the following:

  • regional authorities;
  • municipal offices of municipalities with extended power;
  • municipal authorities, district offices or offices of municipal districts of territorially structured corporate towns, and offices of Prague City districts; the list thereof is laid down in implementing legislation (the list of municipal authorities carrying out confirmation of authenticity and legalisation is laid down in Annex No 1 to Implementing Decree No 36/2006 on certifying that a document is a true copy of an original document and on certifying the authenticity of a signature, as amended);
  • military district authorities;
  • postal licence holder (Czech Post);
  • Czech Chamber of Commerce;
  • notaries,
  • Czech embassies (consulates).

Article 24(1)(f) – information relating to the means by which certified translations and certified copies can be identified

Certified translations

1. Certified document recording the act of translation

On the first page of a written translation, court translators indicate the language from which the document has been translated and, on the final page, they affix confirmation of their translation expertise and stamp it with their translator’s stamp bearing their full name and surname. The original of the translated document or a certified copy thereof must be securely attached to the last page of the translation.

The confirmation of translation expertise must contain the following:

  • the name of the court translator;
  • the name of the contracting authority, if the latter is a public authority;
  • the contracting authority’s reference number, if that authority constitutes a public authority and has communicated the number to the translator;
  • whether the translator engaged a consultant to examine specific sub-questions; and
  • the item number under which the translation is entered in the register of acts of translation.

In the event of partial translation, the confirmation should also indicate which part has been translated.

Where a court translator has engaged a consultant to examine specific sub-questions, the confirmation should also include the name of the consultant, the reason for which the court translator engaged them, and an indication of which specific sub-questions the consultant examined.

If the confirmation of translation expertise contains information which is also entered in the register of translation acts, the court translator set outs such information in the required format for entry in the record of translation acts (see Section 39 of, or Annex 3 to, Ministry of Justice Decree No 506/2020 on interpretation and translation activities).

The court translator’s address and other contact information, such as telephone number, email address, data box ID and registration number in the Chamber of Court-Appointed Interpreters and Translators of the Czech Republic, may be added to the above mandatory information. The number of pages and sheets of the translated text should also be indicated.

The confirmation of translation expertise is always drafted in at least the target language.

2. Certification of the accuracy of the translation of a public document by a Czech embassy or consulate

In practice, and in particular in the case of the translations into Czech of civil registry documents issued by another State, either the applicant provides their own translation of the public document, the accuracy of which is verified by the embassy/consulate, or the embassy itself carries out the translation and subsequently verifies it.

Once the embassy/consulate has assessed the accuracy of the translation of a public document submitted by the applicant or made by the embassy, it affixes a stamp certifying accuracy. Verification of translation accuracy is performed only if the translation produced by the applicant is correct and is accompanied by the original or an officially certified copy of the document against which the translation is to be verified.

The embassy/consulate may refuse to verify the accuracy of the translation of a public document if the consular officer does not have sufficient knowledge of the language in which the document is drafted or if the authorities of the State in which the embassy/consulate has jurisdiction do not recognise translations done or certified at an embassy/consulate.

Czech embassies/consulates are not translators.

An authentication certificate certifying the accuracy of a translation shall contain the following:

  • name of embassy or consulate;
  • sequence number under which the certification is entered in the certification log;
  • language of the translated document;
  • language into which the document has been translated;
  • information about whether the translation was commissioned by the embassy or submitted by the applicant;
  • information about whether the translation is full or partial;
  • the forename(s), surname and signature of the person certifying the document’s accuracy;
  • official stamp, and
  • place and date of certification of the translation’s accuracy.

Certified copies

Certification that a document is a true copy of an original document (confirmation of authenticity) shall display, on the original document or on a sheet securely affixed to the original document, the authentication certificate and official stamp. The authentication certificate shall contain the following:

  • the name of the authority;
  • the sequence number under which the confirmation of authenticity is entered in the certification log;
  • information stating that the document being authenticated is identical to the document from which it was created and whether this document is an original, the already certified and authenticated document, a document resulting from an authorised document conversion, a duplicate created from the file, or a copy of a written decision or operative part of a decision issued in accordance with special legislation;
  • the number of pages of which the document consists;
  • information about whether the document being authenticated is a full or partial duplicate or a full or partial copy;
  • information about whether the document from which the document being authenticated has been created contains a visible security feature which forms part of the legally significant contents of that document (e.g. hologram);
  • the date on which the confirmation of authenticity was carried out;
  • the forename(s), surname and signature of the person carrying out the confirmation of authenticity (i.e. official, mayor or deputy mayor, employee engaged at a military district authority, employee of the postal licence holder or Czech Chamber of Commerce).

Article 24(1)(g) – information about the specific features of certified copies

The confirmation of authenticity is displayed on the document being authenticated in the form of an authentication certificate on each sheet, or the sheets of the document being authenticated are securely stapled to a bundle and sealed. The seal is stamped with an official stamp on both sides so that part of the official stamp is printed on the document being authenticated.

If there is insufficient room on the document being authenticated to display the authentication certificate, it is instead displayed on an individual sheet of paper securely affixed to the document being authenticated and the area where this is affixed is sealed (see above).

If the document being authenticated is composed of one or several sheets and each individual sheet has writing on only one side, the blank sides are struck through from the upper left corner to the lower right corner and the authentication certificate is displayed on the side which is being authenticated.

If in the text of the document being authenticated, or between the authentication certificate and the text on the document being authenticated, a blank area appears, the person carrying out the certification shall strike through the blank area from the upper left corner to the lower right corner.

The authentication certificate template is laid down in Annex 2 to Implementing Decree No 36/2006 on certifying that a document is a true copy of an original document and on certifying the authenticity of a signature, as amended.

The authentication certificate is displayed on a document which is being authenticated in the following ways:

  • with a stamp and the above-described information written out by hand;
  • with a print-out created using IT technology containing the above data; the print-out is printed on a self-adhesive label, on the document or on an individual sheet of paper. The label is affixed to the document being authenticated and stamped with an official stamp so that part of the official stamp is printed on the label. The print-out of the authentication certificate on an individual sheet of paper shall be securely affixed to the document being authenticated;
  • with a print-out created using IT technology containing the above data.
Last update: 03/06/2024

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