Online POA and Other Notary Public Services in the UAE

Announcement of Online Court and Notary Public Services in the UAE

As the COVID-19 situation seemed to be progressing and the whole world forced a complete lockdown in April 2020, the UAE courts announced the resumption of its hearings online. Being a part of the courts, remote notary public services have been declared, allowing people to complete their legal transactions online instead of appearing in person before the notary public as was required before.

This was a huge relief for corporates and individuals who had their necessary transactions come to a halt and saved them a lot of potential damages and losses. Notary public offices were among the most crowded places as they were needed for almost every legal document to be considered valid and official.

And so it has become possible to make a Power of Attorney (POA) and authorize a person in the UAE via video-conferencing. Whether you are abroad or in the UAE seeking to give a POA to your lawyer, family member, or friend, it can all be done remotely now upon identifying the person attending the video call by showing his ID in the cam to the officer.

This service has continued to be provided by UAE courts even after the end of the pandemic as it has made the procedures easier without affecting the ID verification process. Although the conventional methods of documentation, which involved using a real pen and paper and appearing in person before someone, have always been deeply ingrained, things have altered in the twenty-first century. If virtual reality becomes the norm in our future, you'll need to be responsive to that.

What is a POA?

The POA is a legal document requested by a person called “Principal” to a person called “Agent” and issued by the office of the notary public, a division of the courts mandated to validate documents required in legal and commercial transactions. The POA can be of two types:

1. General POA

As its name shows, it allows the Agent to conduct any type of business on behalf of the Principal. This kind is usually required for the type of transactions listed below:

• Purchase, gift, lease out, take over, and manage real estate property.
• Represent the principal before ministries, government departments, and telecom & utility service providers.
• Incorporate legal entities.
• ​Purchase shares in legal entities.
• Sign contracts and other documents.
• Purchase vehicles.
• Represent the principal in legal issues and hire lawyers.

2. Special POA

Known also as Specific POA) where it entitles the Agent to conduct the activities exclusively mentioned therein. A Special POA will be needed for the following types of transactions:

• Sale of real estate property.
• Sale of shares in legal entities.
• Sale of vehicles.
• Inheritance matters.
• Property disputes.
• Consent by a guardian for marriage.
• Consent for travel of minor child (below 21 years) with a person other than the legal guardian.

The First Step: Drafting the POA

After deciding the type, the POA must be drafted to reflect the parties' exact intentions. If the text of the POA is not drafted properly, it will end up being rejected by third parties or the organization requesting the POA, resulting in the loss of time and money. The Notary Public may also reject notarizing a POA that is poorly drafted.

To that end, it is highly recommended that the parties seek the assistance of a legal professional to provide them with an accurate ready template or a tailored one and explain to them the rights and obligations ensuing. Any names or numbers must also be carefully added without any mistakes to avoid any hassle later.

The Process and Requirements of Online POA

To start the process of online POA, you must have a BOTIM account first and the application downloaded on your device whether it’s a computer, tablet, or smartphone (https://botim.me/home/). Applicants will make the video conference with the notary public via the BOTIM application.

An application must be sent then to the Courts' notary public through the email designated for the service (For Dubai, it is remote-notary@dc.gov.ae) and provide the relevant and right information supported by the following documents:

• The text of the POA is to be attested and signed by the Principal;
• Names (as mentioned in their official identification), phone number used in BOTIM, address, Emirates ID;
• In case the Principal is signing on behalf of a company or another individual, a valid copy of the Board Resolution or POA and company trade license;
• Copy of any relevant document like trade license, car registration, legal heir certificate… etc.

All documents must be submitted in PDF format, with the following declaration by the Principal in the footer of each page subject to notarization:

“I, the undersigned, declare with my full capacity and through video communication, using BOTIM, my consent on all that is stated in this application and I sign accordingly.”

After reviewing the documents and application, the notary public will contact the applicant via BOTIM on a pre-agreed date and time to verify documents and information, request more documents, modify information, or inform him/her that the POA has been accepted and notarized.

The applicant will then receive a message by email and on the phone informing him of the location of the notary public office where the Principal himself or the Agent can come to pay the fees (AED 270 for the standard En/Ar POA) and collect the hard copies of the POA. Although it was announced that the fees can be paid online and the hard copies of the POA can be sent by courier to the address provided in the application, such a service is not available yet in Dubai. However, the principal can collect an original copy from the notary public thereafter.

The POA will be issued in Arabic and English, provided that the translation is done by a certified translator who should stamp the dual text, or it can be only in Arabic, as requested by the applicant. If the POA is to be used in a country other than the UAE, the legalization and attestation of the relevant country’s embassy or consulate and the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs are required. If further translation to another language is required for use abroad, the translation must also be attested by the Ministry of Justice.

What Else Can be Notarised Remotely?

In addition to the POA, the notary public provides online services to the following:

• Acknowledgments
• Legal Notices
• Civil companies’ Memoranda of Association (MOA), addendums, and annexures
• Local Agency Service Agreements

The MOAs and legal documents of commercial companies are included with the remote notarization services. They must, however, be done with a private notary in collaboration with the Department of Economic Development (DED).

A private notary is any person who holds a law degree, does not have any criminal convictions, and must be a UAE national. The Director of Courts can make an exception for any Arab national with more than ten years of experience as a notary public.

In addition to all the above services, private notaries can provide job offers, employment contracts, mortgage contracts, and many other services for an extra fee. Applicants can request an appointment where they can visit the office of the notary or the notary moves to their venue.

Who Can Benefit from the Online POA Service?

Generally speaking, people seeking to obtain a POA in the UAE are often those who are not physically available in the country to carry out some transaction, e.g. renting, selling, or purchasing a real estate property, managing certain company business, opening/closing a bank account, selling a car, getting paid under some labor or civil court order, checking criminal records... etc.

Whatever the transaction is, those people are looking to authorize a person or corporation who is physically present in the country to act on their behalf. As hard as that seemed to be done from abroad with the lengthy and costly process of notarization, translation, and legalization compared to doing it from the UAE, today it has been made possible for any person around the globe to benefit from online POA service in the UAE.

In this direction, the UAE has been one of the leading countries in the world to respond to the aftermath of the pandemic and act quickly to find solutions and methods that keep things on track as much as practicable. Court proceedings and public/private notary services were among the things the UAE government moved swiftly to rectify and maintain a smooth operation of business and legal transactions.

Special thanks to:

Samer Pharaon | SP Legal Consultants
Elsayed Abdalla | Momentum Legal & Management Consultancy

for their help in writing the article.

_____

Originally published Jun 8, 2021, last updated 15-May-2024