(1) Article 7 of the Act Governing Relations between People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (thereafter referred to as the "Cross-Strait Act") stipulates that, "documents produced in the Mainland Area shall be presumed to be genuine provided that they are authenticated by the institution set up or designated, or by the private organization entrusted by the Executive Yuan." Therefore, a Mainland notarized document that has been verified by the SEF may be determined to be genuine, and shall serve as the basis for the determination by the court or a government office.
(2) The Agreement on the Use and Verification of Certificates of Authentication Across the Taiwan Strait has been signed by the SEF and the ARATS, copies of notarized documents pertaining to the following 14 categories have been sent to the SEF and the ARATS for verification: Inheritance, adoption, marriage, birth, death, authorization, academic records, household records, financial support for parents and relatives, certificate of property rights, taxation documents, medical records, employment records, and professional certificates.
(3) When an interested party applies to the SEF for document verification, the verification process may be completed in as quickly as an hour once the copy of a document has reached the SEF and has been confirmed by the SEF to be a true copy (including copies being certified as conforming to the originals, with no inconsistencies in content, no violation of any regulation or of public order, and no other items that need further investigation). However, if the copy of a document has not been received by the SEF upon application, document verification process shall be completed as soon as possible once the copy is received, for the benefit of the party concerned.
(4) Contact information for the SEF are as follows:
Tel: (02) 21757000
Fax: 02-21757070
E-mail: service@sef.org.tw
Website: www.sef.org.tw
Address: No. 536, Beian Rd., Zhongshan District, Taipei City