Legitimation of signature

Another very interesting feature offered by the new Notarial Citizen Portal is the possibility to manage 100% online the notarization of a qualified electronic signature placed on an electronic document, which can be very useful for citizens and professionals in many areas.

We will now see how to access this option, what it is used for, as well as the steps to follow.

What is a signature legitimation?

One of the usual functions performed by Notaries is the notarization of signatures, that is, an act by which a Notary certifies, that is to say, attests before third parties, that a signature on a document belongs to a specific person. Thus, thanks to this notarization, the signature of that document acquires the necessary guarantee of veracity and authenticity so that it can be fully effective against third parties.

<ejemplo>Así pues, por ejemplo, cuando se construye una nueva vivienda y se pretende oficializar la misma, a través de una escritura de declaración de obra nueva (para así poderla inscribir en el Registro de la Propiedad), de conformidad con la normativa urbanística, es necesario, entre otras cuestiones, que un técnico competente (un arquitecto), emita un certificado, con firma legitimada notarialmente, que contenga la descripción de la obra nueva.<ejemplo>

On this basis, the truth is that, traditionally, these signature authentications have been performed with respect to handwritten signatures on physical documents, so that the person interested in performing the authentication went in person to a Notary Office, signed before the Notary that physical document on paper, and then, once duly identified, the Notary proceeded to authenticate his signature, thus attesting before third parties that the signature on that document corresponds to that specific person.

However, the truth is that nowadays, as is well known, thanks to the generalization of new technologies, the use of electronic documents, which are signed electronically, is becoming more and more common. In these cases, also, in many occasions, it is also necessary to prove the authenticity and veracity of the signature, so that it can be fully effective before third parties (for example, a public administration, or for its incorporation to a deed, etc.).

Thus, this new service of notarization of electronic signature comes to respond to this need of citizens and professionals, which, in practice, can be very useful for professionals in the field of architecture, law, or the business world(for example, it can serve to legitimize the electronic signature of new articles of association of a company, the termination or appointment of a new position in a company that is detailed in a certificate issued by the competent body, or in the case of certifications of architects in the field of construction and urban planning) .

Why is notarial notarization of digital signatures processed through the notarial portal useful?

Thanks to this new system that we can access through the Citizen's Notarial Portal, now, any person or professional, from home, without having to travel or waste unnecessary time and money, comfortably, with his computer, can sign an electronic document with his qualified digital signature and, immediately after, requesting that a Notary Public authenticate it, so that it can have full effect before whoever it may concern, and all this, through a quick and simple process that saves unnecessary trips to a Notary Public's office, with the consequent saving of time and money for the citizen or professional in question.

As we can see, this is undoubtedly a very interesting feature that will undoubtedly be widely used.

How can I initiate the process to notarize a qualified electronic signature affixed to an electronic document?

In order to start the process that will allow us to notarize a qualified electronic signature placed on an electronic document, the first thing to bear in mind is that, for this to be possible, the interested citizen or professional must be registered in the Citizen's Notarial Portal (HERE), which is the website created by the Spanish Notary's Office to implement all these telematic novelties of Law 11/2023.

To register, if you wish, HERE you can find an explanatory article in our blog, where we detail all the steps you have to follow. It is also necessary to indicate that, in order to be able to carry out this whole process 100% online, we will need a qualified digital certificate that allows us to identify ourselves and digitally sign documents, as well as, if necessary, to have the Auto Signature software (HERE you can download it). In any case, to know more details about these technical aspects, you can find them in the linked article.

What legal aspects should I take into account beforehand?

Regarding the notarization of digital signatures, we simply make a brief reference to its legal regulation, mainly provided for in Article 261 of the Notarial Regulations(HERE you can consult it), which establishes that the Notary may notarize the recognized electronic signatures placed on documents in electronic format, so that this notarization of electronic signatures will have the same value as the notarization made by the Notary with respect to documents in paper format.

In any case, notarization of electronic signatures is subject to the following rules:

• The notary shall identify the signatory and verify the validity of the qualified certificate on which the electronic signature generated by a secure signature creation device is based.
• The notary shall witness the signature by the signatory of the computer file containing the document.
• The notarization shall be recorded by means of a document in electronic format, drawn up by the notary with a recognized electronic signature.

What are the steps involved in the process of notarization of a qualified electronic signature placed on an electronic document, through the Notarial Citizen Portal?

If you choose to notarize, through the Notarial Citizen Portal, a qualified electronic signature placed on an electronic document, the main steps of the process, in a very summarized form, will be the following:

1. First, through the Notarial Citizen Portal, you must verify your personal data to verify your identity. In case you apply as a professional (in the case of lawyers and architects), the NCP will perform a telematic verification with the corresponding Professional Association to verify the veracity of your professional identity.
2. Secondly, once you have verified your personal data, it will be time to attach and validate the document or documents that you wish to legitimize your signature.
3. Finally, once the document or documents have been verified, if they are not yet digitally signed (as you can do it before), you will have to sign them digitally (through the Auto Signature application within the NCP itself) and then send them to the chosen Notary for their notarization.

How do I go about the process of requesting notarization of a qualified electronic signature affixed to an electronic document?

To initiate the process of notarization of a qualified electronic signature affixed to an electronic document, the citizen or professional must access the PNC with his or her user name and, once inside the PNC, select the "Signature notarization" section (left side of the screen).

And, once inside this section, select the green "Start application" button. 

Once inside our new application, we will have to follow all the steps of the process, which can be grouped in the following key points:

1. Applicant's data
2. Document selection
3. Signing of documents and selection of notary
4. Verification and submission of application

We will now develop each of these phases so that the citizen or professional knows in detail how to proceed.

1.- APPLICANT'S DATA

In this first screen, as you will see, the form allows us to make the request as a "professional" or "individual":

If we choose to make the request as a "professional", this will give us access to a drop-down menu where we must select the professional group to which we belong, that is:

• Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España (for architects).
• Consejo General de la Abogacía Española (for lawyers).

And, once the professional group has been selected, we must verify our identity with the corresponding Professional Association by selecting the green "Check identity" button, which will only have a positive result, of course, if the person in question belongs to that professional group and is duly registered with the corresponding Professional Association.

On the other hand, if we make the request as a "private individual", by default, our personal data that we provided when we registered with the PNC will appear.

Once this first step is completed, click on the "next" button (bottom right) to continue with the procedure.

SELECTION OF DOCUMENTS

In this second phase of the procedure, we must select the document or documents whose electronic signature we wish to notarize. For this purpose, click on the blue "Attach" button on the screen shown below.

Once selected, a new screen will appear where we will have to indicate, in a drop-down menu, the type of document, that is:

• Or "corporate resolutions" (for company documents where resolutions relating to the company are adopted).
• Or the "other documents" option for all other cases.

Once this is done, we must click on the "Select" button to attach our document to legitimate, so that, once selected and uploaded, we must click on the blue "Add" button so that the document is duly uploaded. Finally, we will only have to click on the "Attach" button so that our document is properly uploaded in the PNC.

Once this part of the procedure has been completed, we will return to the initial screen of phase 2, where we will only have to validate the document by selecting the green "Validate" button.

Once the validation process has been completed, select the "next" button (bottom right) to continue with the process.

3.- SIGNING OF DOCUMENTS AND SELECTION OF A NOTARY PUBLIC

In this third phase of the process, it is necessary to differentiate whether the electronic document has been previously signed or not:

• If we have already signed it before in our computer, with our qualified digital certificate (which has to be of the same person that makes the request through his user), the PNC will detect it, so that the form will show it to us with a green "tick" of "signed":

• If, on the other hand, the electronic document is not yet signed, the PNC will detect it, so that next to it, the green "Sign" button will appear, which we will have to select, in order to digitally sign the document, with our qualified digital certificate, thanks to the Auto Signature application, which we will have to have previously downloaded.

Having said this, once the document has been signed in either of the two ways, to complete this phase, all that remains is to select the Notary that we want to legitimize our signature:

And also, where appropriate, add in written form any comments that may be of interest to the Notary.

Once this step is completed, click on the "next" button (bottom right) to continue with the procedure.

4.- CHECKING AND SENDING THE APPLICATION

In this fourth and final phase of the process, we will only have to verify that the selected document and the chosen Notary are the correct ones, after which, we will have to click on the green "Send" button to complete the process:

So, if the process has been successfully completed, we will receive the following successful message, as well as a confirmation email to our email address, with a specific request number to identify your request.

How does the Notary Office authenticate the signature?

Once your request has been received, the Notary's Office in question will proceed to verify that the whole process and the signature is correct, so that, if so, it will proceed to transfer the document in question to paper, as well as the legitimization of the signature requested.

Once the process is completed, the Notary Office will contact the client (via PNC or Email) to send him/her the invoice for the service, as well as to manage the delivery of the certified document, which can be done in person at the Notary Office or by mailing it to the address indicated.

What are the advantages of requesting a qualified signature authentication through the Notarial Citizen Portal?

As we have just seen, the possibility of requesting notarization of a qualified electronic signature placed on an electronic document is a very useful feature for citizens and professionals in the legal, business or architectural fields, since anyone, from home, with their computer, following a simple procedure, can digitally sign a document and then request that a notary notarize the signature. Thus, it:

• It is convenient and time-saving, since it will not be necessary for you to go to a notary's office to formalize the request.
• Because you can process your electronic signature certification with the Notary you want, in an easy, fast and simple way, so that, for example, if your trusted Notary is in Barcelona, you can ask him to perform this certification and then send it to your home address, by mail, no matter where it is in the city.

In short, as we can see, this online process will save you a lot of time and will give you much more facilities and comfort, which is undoubtedly something very positive considering the frenetic pace of work and obligations that most of us have nowadays.

I have legal doubts about the legitimization of signatures, where can I find information of interest to help me solve them?

If you have any doubts about what is a notarization of signature, what is it for, etc., beyond the advice that, of course, your Notary will give you, HERE you can find the corresponding section of our website, where you can find a lot of information of interest about this procedure, which, undoubtedly, will be very useful to know in depth everything you need to know when notarizing a signature.

If I end up having any problems with the NCP, can I sign the document in person at the Notary's office?

Of course, there is no problem at all. If you have already started your application, but for any reason (for example, a technical problem with your computer, your digital certificate, etc.) you cannot complete the process, you can go in person to your trusted Notary Office to sign the document there and carry out the signature legitimation in the traditional way.

How can I resolve any doubts I may have about this digital signature legitimation process?

Of course, if you have any doubts about this process, the team of Notaría Jesús Benavides is at your disposal to solve them. You can contact us through our website(HERE) and, with pleasure, our specialists in the matter will try to help you with the whole process, if indeed you have the possibility and intention to legitimize your digital signature in our Notary's office.