How to Notarise a Certificate of Origin in Australia

To notarise a certificate of origin, first have it issued or certified by a chamber of commerce or other authorised body, then take it to an Australian notary public. The notary certifies a copy, witnesses the exporter's declaration or binds the shipping set; they never issue the certificate. DFAT and, for some markets, a consulate follow.

Key takeaways

• The order is chamber first, notary second, then DFAT and any consulate. A notary asked to produce a certificate of origin from scratch will decline, correctly.
• A notary can certify a copy, witness the exporter's signature, confirm the chamber officer's signature where it can be verified, or bind the whole export set into one notarial act.
• DFAT deals with chamber of commerce documents after a notary has, which is why the notary step exists at all.
• Preferential certificates under a trade agreement follow the agreement's own rules and rarely go through this chain.
• Get the importing country's requirement in writing before anything is issued. The remedy for the wrong document is to start again.

Where the notary sits in the chain

A certificate of origin states where goods were produced. Customs authorities use it to apply the right duty rate, banks use it to release payment under a letter of credit, and importers in some markets cannot clear a shipment without one that has been through a specific chain of stamps. Exporters usually arrive at a notary late in that chain, after a freight forwarder or a foreign buyer tells them the document needs to be "notarised and legalised". The notary's place in it is not where most people assume.

In Australia, a certificate of origin is issued or certified by an authorised body: in practice a chamber of commerce and industry, or an industry body authorised for particular preferential schemes. They examine the evidence about where the goods were made and put their stamp on it. A notary public does none of that.

The notary comes in because of how the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) works. DFAT legalises Australian public documents, and its list of documents it can legalise puts chamber of commerce documents with private documents that must be notarised first. So where an importing country wants government authentication, the notary is the link that lets the chamber's document reach DFAT.

What can the notary do once the certificate exists?

• Certify a copy of the chamber-certified certificate, having compared it with the original.
• Witness the exporter's signature on the declaration that accompanies the application, or on a related affidavit about the origin of the goods, after checking the signatory's identity and authority to sign for the company.
• Confirm the chamber's signature and seal, that is, certify that the signature on the certificate is that of an officer of the issuing body, where the notary can verify it. Some consulates want this before they will legalise.
• Bind the certificate with the commercial invoice, packing list and other shipping documents into a single notarised set for consular legalisation.

A notary never certifies that a document's contents are true. The notarial certificate says what the notary saw and did; the origin of the goods remains the chamber's and the exporter's statement.

Preferential or non-preferential?

Exporters are often asked for "a CoO" and then find they have the wrong kind.

• A non-preferential certificate of origin simply states the country of origin. It is used for general customs purposes, letters of credit, and markets that require a certificate regardless of any trade agreement.
• A preferential certificate of origin, or a declaration of origin under a free trade agreement, lets the importer claim a reduced or zero duty rate under a specific agreement. These follow forms and rules set by the agreement, and the criteria for qualifying are strict.

It is mainly the non-preferential certificate that goes through notarisation and legalisation. Preferential documents travel under the agreement's own verification rules, and a notary adds nothing to them. Ask the buyer which one it needs before anything is issued.

What gets bound together?

Consular legalisation is rarely just the certificate. Where a notary is involved, the documents are often bound into one notarial act rather than certified individually, which is what many consulates prefer to handle.

Binding a set of seven documents is a different job from certifying one, so tell the notary the full list when you book, and send the importer's or bank's instructions with it. Check that the goods description, quantities, invoice number and consignee are identical on every document in the set before you bring it. A mismatch found by a consulate or a bank means reissuing documents and repeating the chain.

Who	Does what	Does not
Chamber of commerce	Issues or certifies the certificate, after examining the evidence	Authenticate for foreign governments
Notary public	Certifies copies, witnesses declarations, confirms signatures, binds the set	Issue the certificate or judge origin
DFAT	Apostilles or authenticates the notary's signature and seal	Check the goods or the invoice
Consulate	Legalises DFAT's certificate, on its own terms	Replace DFAT's step

How to prepare for the notary

1. Get the instructions in writing from the importer or the buyer's bank: which documents, whether they must be legalised, and by which consulate.
2. Have the chamber issue or certify the certificate, and the invoice if the market wants it certified too.
3. Check every document against the others: goods description, quantities, invoice number, consignee and dates.
4. Arrange the signatory. Whoever signs a declaration for the company attends with photo identification and evidence of authority, such as a board resolution or a power of attorney, and brings the declaration unsigned.
5. Send the notary the list and the instructions before the appointment, so the notarial certificate can be prepared in the form the consulate expects.

If the certificate was issued electronically, ask the importing authority whether it accepts the electronic version with its verification code. Where it does, the notary, DFAT and consulate steps may be unnecessary altogether. Where a consulate still wants physical legalisation, ask the chamber for a printed, stamped version to start from, because a notary cannot treat your own printout of an electronic certificate as the chamber's original.

Which markets want the full chain?

The chain beyond the chamber exists because some importing countries do not accept a foreign chamber's stamp on its own. They want the document authenticated by the exporting country's government and then legalised by their own embassy or consulate. Several Middle Eastern and North African markets have historically worked this way, and some have added a further layer, such as legalisation through a bilateral chamber before the consulate will accept the document. These requirements change and are sometimes suspended or reinstated.

If the destination is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, DFAT may issue an apostille, but the Convention excludes documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations, and countries read that exclusion differently. Check membership on the HCCH status table on the day, and see apostilles for a certificate of origin for how that plays out. If the country is not a member, DFAT issues an authentication certificate and the consulate legalises it. A notary cannot issue an apostille, and no agent or forwarder can change that.

The practical rule: get the requirement in writing from the importer or the issuing bank, and confirm it against the consulate's current published requirements before you commit to a shipping date. For consular practice in general, see consulates and legalisation.

Timing and letters of credit

Nothing in this chain is especially slow on its own. It is slow cumulatively, and it sits on the critical path between the goods being ready and the buyer being able to clear them. Consulates close for their own national and religious holidays, not Australian ones. If a letter of credit has a presentation deadline, work backwards from it and build in a margin: a bank will refuse a late or discrepant presentation even when the goods arrived perfectly. We do not quote processing times or fees; the chamber, the notary, DFAT and each consulate set their own. For the notarial service, see document notarisation.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A Queensland food exporter ships to a buyer in a market that wants export documents legalised. The buyer's bank sends a list: certificate of origin, commercial invoice and packing list, legalised by the consulate. The chamber certifies the certificate and invoice. The exporter's director takes the set, with a board resolution showing her authority, to a notary, who binds the three documents into one notarial act. DFAT authenticates the notary's signature, and the consulate legalises it within the letter of credit's deadline.

In short

A notary does not issue a certificate of origin and cannot judge where goods were made. The chamber of commerce does that. The notary comes second: certifying a copy, witnessing the exporter's declaration, confirming the chamber's signature, or binding the export set, so that DFAT and, where needed, a consulate can take it further. Confirm the importing country's requirement in writing, check that every document matches, and plan the chain against any letter of credit deadline.

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Exporting to a market that wants legalised documents? Send us the importer's instructions, and we will explain each step before you book.