Q1214. What legal validity does a Notary Public translation certification hold in court?

Answered by the NYC Visa & Translation certified translation team

A Notary Public's certification of a translation in Thailand carries a specific, limited legal weight — and understanding its actual status prevents both over-reliance and under-use. The Thai framework: Thailand has no notary public system in the civil-law sense (no state-appointed notaries with authentication powers); the 'Notarial Services Attorney' is a lawyer licensed by the Lawyers Council of Thailand to perform notarial services (witnessing signatures, certifying documents, administering oaths) — the certification attests to what the notary witnessed or verified (the signature's genuineness, the copy's conformity), not to the document's legal truth. For translations specifically: a notary's certification of a translation typically attests that the translator signed the translation's declaration before the notary — the notary certifies the signature, not the translation's accuracy (the notary usually does not verify the translation against the original). The evidential weight: in Thai courts, a notarised translation is evidence with the weight the court gives it — the court can require the translator's testimony, and the notarisation does not make the translation's content unchallengeable; for foreign use, the notarisation is a link in the legalisation chain (the MFA legalises the notary's signature, the embassy legalises the MFA's) — the chain's value is the authentication of signatures, not of content. Points that matter: for official Thai use, the MFA's certification of the translation is the standard requirement — notarisation is an additional or alternative step depending on the receiving body; and for foreign use, the destination country's rules determine what certification form is accepted. Confirm the receiving body's specific requirements before choosing the certification form.