Attestation activities

The attestation activities performed by a lawyer are duties provided for by Law no. 51/1995 on the organisation and exercise of the profession of attorney and by the Statute of the profession of attorney. Under the conditions provided for by law, a lawyer may perform attestation activities which give documents the legal effects provided for by law and contribute to increasing the certainty of the legal relationships between the parties.

Depending on the specific situation, attestation activities may include giving documents a certain date (dată certă), certifying the identity of the parties and attesting the content of documents. These activities are frequently used in the case of loan agreements, loan-for-use agreements (comodat), promises of sale, civil agreements, declarations, powers of attorney and other documents under private signature, where it is necessary to prove the date on which a document was drawn up, the identity of the signatories or the content of the document.

Giving a document a certain date makes it possible to establish with certainty the moment at which a document existed and renders its date enforceable against third parties, under the conditions provided for by law. In practice, this facilitates proof of the existence of the document at a given moment and may be relevant in the legal relationships between the parties and in relation to third parties.

Certification of the parties' identity attests that the lawyer has verified the identity of the persons signing the document. This activity is used in particular where the parties wish to give an additional degree of certainty to the act concluded and to remove any potential challenges concerning the identity of the signatories or the authenticity of the signatures.

Attestation of the content of documents certifies that the document was presented to the lawyer and that it expresses the will of the parties at the moment of attestation, under the conditions provided for by law.

In the case of documents which the law recognises as enforceable titles, such as loan agreements attested by a lawyer, the creditor may seek their enforcement directly through a court bailiff, without first having to obtain a court judgment, under the conditions provided for by law. This possibility allows the creditor's rights to be realised more quickly and removes the need to pursue separate court proceedings in order to obtain an enforceable title, in the situations provided for by law, offering the parties an increased level of legal certainty from the moment the document is concluded.

Each attestation activity involves verifying that the conditions provided for by law are met, analysing the documents presented and observing the formalities specific to each category of attestation. The procedure differs according to the nature of the document, the attestation activity requested and the purpose pursued by the parties, each request being analysed in relation to the particular features of the specific situation.