Official seal

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Embossed official seal (notary in Munich)
Various seals, Ditzingen City Archives, before 1918

An official seal is a symbol of an office with which documents are labeled in a legally binding manner. This seal has different objectives such as the seal or the identification of the exhibitor via his authenticity.

history

While official seals were initially only used to hold documents together as a bundle , they were later also used as a certificate for a statement and, above all, for the authenticity of a document ( certification , authentication ) - cf. also § 415 ZPO . Initially, the official seals were also provided with integrated laces. Official seals were initially used by rulers in antiquity and, over time, by the official churches, until (additionally) a separate administrative apparatus emerged.

Executions

Historic seal from Austria, around 1860

The most common forms are official seals as stamps or stamps. Official seals always form a symbol - mostly national emblems ( official coat of arms ):

Federal lead the federal coat of arms , national authorities shall conduct their coat of arms (eg. As notaries ), local authorities their municipal coat of arms , official churches perform their religious emblem . Sealing stamps contain a number or another mark (letter, line, point, motif recess), which is used to identify the stamp. Since there are usually several seal stamps with the same imprint (the official seal of the authority) in an office, each individual seal stamp is provided with an individual distinguishing mark. Usually this is a number. This makes it possible to trace who has sealed the seal here and thus prevents abuse. In the event of loss, only this seal stamp will be declared invalid.

There are official seals on many banknotes in the world to indicate their authenticity (and thus validity as a means of payment ); However, the euro does not have an official seal, but the European flag . Almost every official document with external impact such as correspondence , ID cards , certificates , documents , contracts , etc. contains an official seal.

In some cases, the official seals also say something about the status of a transfer of ownership, namely the correctness of the transfer ; Examples of this are the seal of the police or the pledge seal of the judiciary .

With some multi-page (notarial) documents or contracts , the official seal also serves to permanently connect a structure from several sides with one another (so that misuse is prevented). Today, the upper left corner of all sheets of a booklet is often fanned, bent and stamped on the reverse side. A more elaborate and safer form is to connect several sheets with an eyelet , cord and embossed seal . Nowadays, machine-generated notices often bear the digital reproduction of an official seal.

A well-known official seal is the pledge seal - colloquially "Cuckoo" called - (after in Prussia imaged thereon eagle as cuckoo verballhornt is). Another well-known seal is the tax stamp on tobacco products with the federal eagle . These examples show the function of an official seal as a closure.

to form

Wax seal on the 1985 Schengen Agreement

There are basically four different forms of official seals:

Most official seals are stamps. Embossed official seals are only common today for particularly important documents, e.g. B. Contracts in diplomacy , certificates of appointment and award or notarial certification .

Official seals as stamps are partly available in two different sizes: as a “small” or as a “large” official seal. The small official seals are usually affixed to official ID cards .

Law

The official or official seal is a sign of legitimation and serves as a certificate of sovereignty and authenticity on official documents or documents . Persons or institutions that are legally allowed to carry a seal are called bodies that carry the seal or are authorized to seal and are authorized by federal or state law to affix the official seal to certain processes. According to Section 39 of the BeurkG, the official seal is one of the mandatory features of public certification for notaries. The official certification, on the other hand, can be carried out by authorities that are legally authorized to use an official seal. Then they are allowed to confirm both the conformity of a copy with an original and the authenticity of a signature . According to Section 33 (3) No. 4 VwVfG, the certification of a copy must contain the official seal; this also applies to official signature certification according to Section 34 (3) No. 3 VwVfG. In addition, the authorities determined by the Federal Government by ordinance within the meaning of Section 1 (1) No. 1 VwVfG and the authorities responsible under Land law are authorized to certify copies if the original is issued by an authority or the copy is to be presented to a Authority is needed. The bodies responsible for the seal include, in particular, municipal administrations , districts and lower administrative authorities (e.g. local mayors and local mayors ), local court chiefs in Hesse and the councilors in Baden-Württemberg as well as local mayors and local authorities in Rhineland-Palatinate ( § 2 BeglG), city ​​administrations (town hall) , District administrations , authorities, police , courts or churches organized under public law. According to most of the savings bank laws of the federal states, the public savings banks are authorized to seal (e.g. Sections 23, 10 SparkG Baden-Württemberg). According to many municipal ordinances, the municipalities have an official seal.

An official seal is not required by law for a written administrative act . In the case of a written administrative act that is drawn up with the help of automatic equipment (mass printing, computer), signatures according to Section 37 (1) VwVfG may be missing. On the other hand, the official seal must be attached to a request for enforcement pursuant to Section 4 (3) No. 1 VwVfG. In electronic business transactions, the official seal in Germany is being replaced by the so-called qualified representative certificate. A missing official seal does not make administrative acts ineffective. Under administrative law, the official seal is not regarded as part of a statutory formal requirement, but as a sign of legitimation for a power of attorney. If a municipal code stipulates that a written extraordinary termination against an employee is only legally binding if the letter of termination is handwritten by the municipality director and the council chairman and provided with the official seal, then this is not a legal form requirement, but a representation regulation. In such cases, the official seal, as a sign of legitimation, is equivalent to a power of attorney within the meaning of Section 174 sentence 1 BGB . Applications for entry in the commercial register are to be submitted electronically in a publicly certified form in accordance with Section 12 (1) of the German Commercial Code ( HGB) , and the official seal can be displayed electronically. In the case of official registration applications for the land register (e.g. foreclosure notice ), the signed document with an official seal replaces the otherwise required public authentication ( Section 29 (3 ) GBO ).

Criminal offenses

Damaging, detaching or making an official seal unrecognizable is a punishable offense in Germany as a seal breaking under Section 136 of the Criminal Code . In Germany, the improper use can constitute an offense of forgery of documents according to § 267 StGB as well as an official presumption according to § 132 StGB. German vehicle license plates and the approval seal (as an expression for the approval of the vehicle for use on public roads ) represent a "composite document". Anyone who affixes the seal to another license plate can in fact commit a forgery of documents (see license plate abuse ).

Illustrations

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Section 32 (4) LFGG
  2. ↑ here: Section 80 (5) sentence 3 in conjunction with V. m. Section 63 para. 2 NdsGO old version
  3. ↑ a b BAG, judgment of June 29, 1988 , Az. 7 AZR 180/87, guiding principle; NVwZ 1988, 1165.
  4. ↑ Bundestag printed paper 15/4067 of October 28, 2004, p. 35
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