Corporate Document Notary & Legalization

What a Thai Notarial Services Attorney can and cannot do for a company

Thailand does not have civil-law notaries. The equivalent function is performed by a lawyer licensed by the Lawyers Council of Thailand under the Lawyers Act B.E. 2528 (1985) who has completed the Council's notarial services training and holds a current registration as a Notarial Services Attorney. That person may certify signatures, administer oaths and affirmations, certify copies as true copies of originals sighted, and certify facts observed.

The distinction that matters commercially is between certifying the signature and certifying the content. A Notarial Services Attorney certifies that a named director signed in their presence, having verified identity, and that the copy matches the original produced. They do not certify that the board resolution is valid under the company's articles or that the statements in the document are true. Foreign counterparties who ask for a notary to 'confirm the company is in good standing' actually need a DBD affidavit, which is a different document from a different source.

Notarisation may be one step rather than the endpoint. Where the recipient requires consular authentication for an outbound Thai document, confirm the Department of Consular Affairs and destination embassy requirements. Thailand's accession to the HCCH Apostille Convention enters into force on 28 February 2027; until that date the full legalisation chain remains the operative route and planning a transaction around an apostille today will fail.

Corporate instruments we notarise routinely

• Board and shareholder resolutions authorising a transaction, an account opening, or the appointment of an attorney-in-fact.
• Powers of attorney for share transfers, litigation abroad, patent and trademark prosecution, and property dealings in another jurisdiction.
• Certified true copies of the DBD company affidavit, memorandum of association, articles, shareholder list (Bor Or Jor 5) and audited financial statements.
• Signature and incumbency certificates for foreign bank account opening and correspondent banking due diligence.
• Declarations and affidavits sworn by a director for use in foreign proceedings or regulatory filings.
• Certified copies of director passports and identification for KYC packs required by foreign counterparties.
• Distribution, agency and licensing agreements where the foreign counterparty requires witnessed execution.
• Documents supporting a foreign subsidiary incorporation where the Thai parent is the shareholder.

How we run a corporate notarisation

1. Instrument and destination check: We confirm the receiving country and authority, because the destination dictates the wording of the certificate, the language pairing and whether embassy legalisation follows.
2. Authority verification: We pull a current DBD affidavit and check that the signatory is authorised to bind the company in the manner the affidavit requires, including any seal condition.
3. Identity verification: Original passport or Thai ID is checked for each signatory at an in-person appointment. Remote document review is not remote witnessing. A person abroad should confirm a locally accepted witness and authentication route with the recipient.
4. Execution before the attorney: Signing occurs in the attorney's presence, each page initialled, with the notarial certificate, seal, signature and register entry completed and numbered.
5. Translation where needed: Where the destination requires a language other than the document's original, we attach a certified translation bound into the same instrument so the pages cannot be separated.
6. Legalisation chain: Filing at the Department of Consular Affairs and then the destination embassy, with realistic timing given each embassy's own service days and document rules.

Cross-border banking and due diligence packs

Foreign banks onboarding a Thai corporate client typically ask for a bundle: certificate of incorporation equivalent, articles, shareholder register, director identification, proof of registered address and a certified board resolution authorising the account. Each item has a Thai source document, and each source document has a natural expiry in the bank's eyes — the bank may impose its own document-age limit, which must be confirmed for the actual application.

We assemble these packs so the whole bundle carries a consistent date, a single set of certifications and one legalisation run, rather than a piecemeal collection assembled over months where half the items are stale by the time the last one arrives. A consistent document set can help avoid mismatched names and dates, but the bank controls further evidence requests and the account decision.

Common mistakes and how we avoid them

More questions we are asked

Is a Thai Notarial Services Attorney recognised abroad?

The receiving authority decides whether it accepts the witness, certificate and authentication. MFA and embassy legalization may be required, but completing a chain does not guarantee acceptance of the document's contents.

Can directors sign remotely from overseas?

Remote preparation is possible, but we do not offer video witnessing as a substitute for an accepted notarial act. Directors abroad should confirm a locally accepted witness and authentication route before signing.

How long does notarisation take?

Appointment availability and the proposed schedule are confirmed after reviewing the documents and signatories. Any MFA or embassy step follows the authority's requirements and queue; no fixed completion date is guaranteed.

Do you keep a record of notarised documents?

Yes. Each act is entered in the notarial register with a reference number, which is what a foreign authority quotes if it wants to verify the certificate.

Can you notarise a document in Chinese, Japanese or German?

The notarial certificate is issued in English or Thai and attached to the document. Where the destination requires the body text in another language we attach a certified translation into that language.