The official certification of signatures serves to verify identity. The competent authority may certify signatures if

• the signed document is required for submission to a German government agency or other authority to which the signed document must be submitted pursuant to a legal provision, and
• the signature is provided in the presence of the certifying official.

Signatures may notbe officially certified if:

• they require public certification by a notary (Section 129 of the German Civil Code (BGB)), e.g.,
  • certifications of signatures on contracts or declarations in the field of family and inheritance law;
  • in matters relating to the association and commercial registers;
• they are submitted without accompanying text (blank signatures),
• the document submitted is not required for submission to a government agency or other authority to which the signed document must be submitted pursuant to a legal provision (e.g., so-called “Reichsbürger declarations and documents”) or if the person refuses to allow the document to be read,
• documents are written in a foreign language.