The Acts of Power Of Attorney

Power of attorney acts much in the same fashion as an agent does for an individual. There is the principle, which in this case is the company, that will be signing off on the attorney form. The appointed agent can be granted broad legal authority to act on behalf of the company or they may have a limited scope of authority.

Commonly a corporate power of attorney is used when there are business interests in a foreign country and the company needs an agent to act on their behalf.The often used powers of attorney to use abroad are:

* A general representation of the company when there is business in a foreign country.

* Heads of representative offices are granted agent authority.

* Authority to manage and open bank accounts in a foreign country.

* The buying of leasing of property.

* The ability to conduct negotiations and to sign off on the contracts.

When the document will be used in another foreign country there is a legalization process that has to be completed. This means that thedocument has to legalized through authentication to be able to be used for foreign use. The process involves different seals that are than placed on the document.

How the legalization procedure takes place will depend on the target country and whether that country is part of the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents; otherwise known as the Hague Convention.

Power of Attorney Apostille

When a country is part of the Hague Convention, then the only legalization that needs to take place is an Apostille certificate. The attorney document that has an Apostille is than valid in all countries that are part of the Hague Convention. However, if country is not part of the Hague Convention, then the document will need to undergo the consular legalization process.

There are foreign jurisdictions that have not joined the Hague Convention. When there is power of attorney that is needed ina non Hague country, then there is the consular legalization that will be required. Prior to the consulate or the embassy stamping the document as legal, which is the last step, the power of attorney form will need authentication at all state and federal levels.

Part of the legalization process is the fact that only original, notarized power of attorney forms will be accepted for legalization. They have to be notarized and have all relevant documents included. One of these documents that is needed with a corporate power of attorney form is the Certificate of Incumbency. This confirms that the company officer that is granting the power of attorney has the authority to do so on behalf of the company.Visit www.legalizationservicecentre.ca/ 

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