EC Convention

(a) Statutory Declarations made for the purposes of the Companies Act in any of the EC Convention countries

This refers to countries which are party to the Convention abolishing the Legalisation of Documents in the Member States of the European Communities of 25 May 1987. Ireland is a signatory to this Convention.

The other signatories to the EC Convention are Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Italy and Latvia. Where a statutory declaration is made in any of those jurisdictions for the purposes of the Companies Acts before a person entitled to administer oaths in the jurisdiction in question, no legalisation is required. The single limitation on this is found in Article 4 of the Convention which provides:

“If the authorities of the State in whose territory the document is produced have serious doubts, with good reason, as to the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted or the identity of the seal or stamp, they may request information directly from the relevant central authority, designated in accordance with Article 5, of the State from the document emanated”.

Such requests for information ought to be made in exceptional cases only and must set out the grounds on which they are based.

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