16 July 1999 Document Authentication Office upgrades service and launches Quality Service Charter

Mr George Cuschieri, Officer in Charge (left) talks to Mr Chris Cassar, member of staff at the Document Authentication Office.

The increase in trade relations and exchange of information with other countries has given rise to a greater need for the authentication of  documents which are to be sent abroad.  The Document Authentication Office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently processing an average of over 350 documents per week.  To cater for this increase in demand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently installed an IT based system which accelerates the process of authentication of documents.  The streamlining of this process forms part of a series of initiatives undertaken in drawing up a Quality Service Charter for the Document Authentication Office.

Through the Quality Service Charter, the Document Authentication Office is committing itself to process documents in less than 5 minutes, as long as the professional who has signed the documents has previously submitted his signature to the office.  In fact, the office has a large database of scanned specimen signatures of doctors, lawyers, notaries, commissioners for oaths, translators and others.  The office authenticates the documents by matching the signatures of the document against that in the Document Authentication Office’s database.  Once the authenticity of the signature has been ascertained, a certificate is issued.

Speaking about the service provided by the Document Authentication Office, Mr George Cuschieri, Officer in Charge of the Unit, stated that, “It is advisable that customers wishing to send important documents abroad for one reason or another should authenticate them.  This will help to ensure that the receiver will have no difficulty in processing them.  Today the office can authenticate practically any document from school or university certificates, to ship registrations and even marriage and birth certificates.  The aim of the Document Authentication Office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to provide customers with a quick and reliable service whenever documents need to be authenticated.”

In order to be more accessible to the public the office has also extended its winter hours and will now be open between 8.00am and 2.00 pm. The Document Authentication Office is housed at the Protocol Section in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Palazzo Parisio, Merchants Street, Valletta.