A New Year’s Primer on the Apostilled Certificate of Incumbency.
A Power of Attorney is very similar to a Certificate of Incumbency. A Power of Attorney gives an officer of the entity some authority to represent the company in a foreign country when doing business there. The Certificate of Incumbency grants different powers and rights than the Power of Attorney.
This certificate is signed by a company officer or secretary other than the incumbent, and this document demonstrates that an authorized officer of the business has the authority and capacity to sign and issue documents on behalf of that business in the particular matter at hand. In addition to verifying the names of shareholders and directors, it can provide specimens of their signatures.
It also lists the specific rights and privileges applicable. An incumbency may list any of the documents that the officer may sign and issue, such as if the corporation or company needs to open a Representative Office in Uzbekistan. Power of attorney may be given to the officer to register a Representative Office, but he will not be given unlimited withdrawal powers for a Corporate Bank account, since this does not relate to the task.
That’s why it’s important. When conducting any type of business in foreign countries, foreign authorities require a Certificate of Incumbency. This document is particularly useful since it clearly outlines the responsibilities of the officers that will conduct business abroad; it also proves that the person signing the paperwork on behalf of the company has legitimate authorization to do so and can endorse transactions of a legal nature. The main purpose of this document is to confirm the identities of certain signatories of a company, which is key for foreign agencies.
The document is crucial for the foreign authorities to establish the legitimacy of the corporate documents presented to them by the Representative of the company. This certificate proves that the corporation intends for this to happen versus it being born out of a particular employee’s desire to work without permission from the Board of Directors. Hence, this document is crucial. It comes from the internal corporation’s document processes and determines the authority of the officers.
Other commonly used names
Certificates of Incumbency have several other given names, just like some other important documents we offer services for. It is also called an Incumbency Certificate, a Certificate of Officers or an Officer Certificate, a Register of Directors, or a Secretary Certificate, among others.
At Corporate Apostilles we commonly translate the Certificate of Incumbency into the target language prior to having the documents apostilled.
