From 1 September 2026, a new Act No. 78/2026 Coll. on the Certification of Documents and Signatures applies in Slovakia. It replaced the previous Act No. 599/2001 Coll. and introduced more precise rules for certifying document copies and signatures at municipalities and district offices.
For foreigners living in Slovakia, the change is particularly relevant because it affects both which documents can be certified and how a foreign national must prove their identity.
The most important practical change is simple: municipalities can no longer certify certain types of documents that were previously commonly presented for certification.
Which documents can no longer be certified?
Under the new Section 7, a municipality or district office will not certify a document in cases including:
- medical records or certificates concerning a person’s health,
- driving licences, firearms licences, hunting or fishing licences,
- vehicle registration certificates or technical documents,
- securities,
- documents intended for use abroad,
- documents where comparison requires expert assessment,
- documents that are not originals or officially certified copies.
An important new rule also applies to documents containing security features.
A municipality may not certify a copy if the original document contains a security feature whose function is lost or impaired when the document is copied.
This may include documents containing a watermark, hologram, dry seal or similar security element.
What about birth, marriage or death certificates?
The law does not expressly say that a “birth certificate cannot be certified”.
What matters is whether the particular document contains a security feature that cannot be properly reproduced in a copy.
In practice, the new rule may therefore affect documents such as:
- birth certificates,
- marriage certificates,
- death certificates,
- school certificates,
- diplomas,
- other official certificates.
If the document contains such a security feature, the municipality may not be able to certify its copy.
Foreigners: your residence permit card may no longer be enough
One of the most important changes for foreign nationals concerns identification.
Under the new law, a foreign national requesting certification must prove their identity using a valid travel document.
In practice, this usually means bringing your passport.
A Slovak residence permit card is no longer listed as a sufficient identification document for certification under the new Act.
This is especially important if you need to certify:
- a signature on a power of attorney,
- a declaration,
- a contract,
- corporate documents,
- documents submitted to a Slovak authority.
If you are a foreigner visiting a municipality or district office for certification, it is therefore advisable to bring your valid passport or another valid travel document.
An ordinary photocopy is not enough
The new law also expressly requires the applicant to present either:
the original document or an already officially certified copy.
A municipality cannot create an officially certified copy from an ordinary photocopy that you printed or copied yourself.
Foreign-language documents may also be a problem
Foreign nationals often bring documents issued outside Slovakia.
As a general rule, a municipality or district office will not certify a document written in a language other than Slovak, subject to certain exceptions.
Czech-language documents and some bilingual educational documents are treated differently.
So if you have a document in English, German, Ukrainian or another foreign language, do not assume that a municipality will be able to certify it.
Depending on the purpose, you may instead need a certified translation, notarial certification or another form of authentication.
The rules for signature certification have also changed
The new Act also sets out more detailed rules for certifying signatures.
A signature cannot be certified:
- on a blank sheet of paper,
- on an uncompleted form,
- on an uncompleted document template,
- if the signature is only scanned, pre-printed or created by a stamp.
The person must either sign the document in front of the certifying official or acknowledge an existing handwritten signature as their own.
What if the municipality refuses to certify your document?
The correct solution depends on the type of document and the purpose for which you need it.
In some cases, a notarial certification may be the appropriate alternative. For civil status documents, it may be better to obtain a new official extract or duplicate. If the document is intended for use abroad, you may also need an apostille, legalisation or certified translation.
For foreigners, this is especially important because the correct procedure may depend not only on Slovak law, but also on the requirements of the authority or institution receiving the document.
If you are unsure whether you need a certified copy, certified signature, notary, translation or apostille, it is worth checking the correct procedure before visiting the office. Choosing the wrong form of certification can mean repeating the entire process.
The new Act No. 78/2026 Coll. therefore does more than change administrative formalities. From 1 September 2026, it directly affects which documents municipalities may certify and what identification foreigners must present when requesting certification in Slovakia.