Certain date: what does the term “certain date” mean?

Certain date. What does the term “certain date” mean?

With regard to private documents – In view of the risk that a private document may be backdated, the legislature introduced the concept of a “certain date”. This is not necessarily the date on which the document was drawn up, but the date by which the document certainly already existed and may therefore be asserted against third parties. A private document has a certain date in the following cases:

1. When the date, signature or contents of a private document have been notarised, this proves that the document existed on the date on which it was presented to the notary.

2. The date of the author’s death or the date on which the author became factually unable to sign it. This is the latest date on which the document could have been drawn up, although the author may have signed it earlier.

3. The date on which the contents of the document were reproduced in an official document, for example in the minutes of a court hearing, an administrative act, and so forth.

4. The date on which another fact occurred from which it follows beyond doubt that the private document existed. For example, the other party may have drawn up a document whose contents show that the contents of the private document were already known to that party.

Certain date with regard to official documents (issued by a public authority or by another legal entity to which the State has entrusted a certifying function):

An official document has formal evidentiary force. This means that it proves, with binding evidentiary effect against everyone, that the statement recorded in it was made, the stated date and place of issue, the authorship of the person identified as issuer, and that this person acted in the official capacity stated in the document.