REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE AUTHENTICATION OF DOCUMENTS BY THE OVERSEAS CONSULAR OFFICIALS Article 17

When authenticating foreign documents, Consular Officials shall verify and collate the signature and seal of documents, or verify these by other appropriate means according to Article 14 of the Law. Treaties, international standards and other rules are not subject to this provision. The procedure for verifying signatures and seals is as follows:(1). The signature and seal appearing on the document shall be verified in the first instance by the authorities of the country in which the document was produced (hereinafter referred to as “the Country”);(2). When verifying the signature and seal of the authorities concerned, if a sample is not available for collation, Consular Officials shall request the authorities concerned to verify the signature, or request the applicant to have the document verified by an official agency or higher level authorities within the agency which produced the document;(3). If verification is not made in accordance with the above paragraph, the document shall be verified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the authorities of the Country concerned, or by the embassy or consulate of the Country in the Place of posting of the ROC Overseas Office. If the embassy or consulate does not have a sample of the signature or the seal in question for collation, the Overseas Office shall request staff from the embassy or consulate of the Country to verify the signature and the seal.