The official service for power of attorney verification

On the 1^st of January 2017 the amendments to the law on powers of attorney were enacted for greater protection to any third parties relying on these documents. It made the Russian Notary Chamber create and run the Internet site to let anyone check validity of the document. The service seems to be extremely useful thinking of simplicity of forgery of any kinds of written documents nowadays.

Not only lets it check whether the power of attorney was given by the said notary on the said day but also monitor its revocation. The amendments in question allow any power of attorney to be withdrawn in notary form and make the notary put the information on any such withdrawal in the Internet. That results in anyone’s possibility to verify that a power of attorney they are shown is still in force. However this, in turn, place some responsibility on the people as the day after the notary withdrawal anybody is regarded to be informed of the revocation.

So the amendments have changed the reasonable care standard in any relationships with a representative of a third party. One should not rely on the power of attorney shown unless he or she has checked out its validity in the official Internet service.