What is power of attorney?
A Power Of Attorney is a contract according to which one of the parties appoints the other party as his/her representative to perform his/her duties or matters also under Iranian law A power of attorney is permissible, meaning that either party can terminate it at any time.
Advocacy can be divided into civil and judicial sections. In the civil sector, which refers to all non-judicial matters such as buying and selling, renting, marriage, divorce, debt, mortgage and etc., we can appoint a non-certified person to act on behalf of us. However, in judicial matters i.e., the cases that shall be reviewed by the court, it is not possible to give Power Of Attorney to a non-licensed person. Only the competent lawyers with special license are eligible to act as a lawyer before the courts. It means that the judicial authorities will refuse to accept the routine civil Power of Attorneys in the court's cases.
Considering the above, the following Power Of Attorney could be granted under Iranian law:
- Absolute civil Power Of Attorney that shall be drafted and issued by a public notary office or by the diplomatic authorities of Iran in other countries;
- Restricted civil Power Of Attorney that shall be issued by the above-mentioned authorities, and
- Judicial Power of Attorney that is merely for a certified Iranian lawyer to represent his clients before the Iranian courts.
Applicability of different types of Power of Attorney under the
Iranian law
1. The absolute civil power of attorney
Customarily, this kind of Power Of Attorney is used for general administrative matters in Iran e.g., acting on behalf a person before the municipality or tax office. With this Power of Attorney, you are not authorized to act on important issues such as opening a bank account or selling and/or purchasing a property in Iran.
2. The Restricted civil power of attorney
The scope of authority in this type of Power of Attorney is limited to specific actions. If you are willing to sell and/or purchase a property through a lawyer in Iran, the specification of this property shall be clearly and precisely mentioned inside a restricted Power of Attorney.
3. Notarized power of attorney
It is a Power Of Attorney that is prepared and registered in the notary public office, with the presence of the parties and authentication by the notary public.
4. Non-notarized power of attorney
This type of Power of Attorney is not regulated by notaries, but a series of principles must be observed, for example, a Non-notarized Power of Attorney also shall be confirmed by both parties through their signatures. The Non-notarized Power of Attorney has a very limited scope of power, for instance, it could be used in the event that an employer wants to perform a task through his employees before the tax office or Social Security Organization. Customarily, in Iran, most of important task specially the ones with financial consequences cold not be implemented through this kind of PoA.
5. Judicial Power of Attorney
The Judicial Power of Attorney is only dedicated to the certified lawyers and could be issued as general power or limited power.
The Power of Attorney for lawyers adjusts for advocacy matters because only official lawyers in Iran can represent their clients in the courts of law. With respect to the above, through a civil notarized power of attorney, a non-certified person or even a certified lawyer, cannot represent a client in the court of law. However, it is acceptable to provide a third-person with a civil Notarized PoA to enable him to appoint and hire a certified lawyer for a judicial task on behalf of you.
How we can grant a Power Of Attorney in Iran based on their different types?
In this section, we will discuss the manner of granting a Power of Attorney under Iranian law. Accordingly, we first discuss the case of foreigners who are willing to appoint a lawyer in Iran and secondly, we will analyze the case of Iranian clients who live abroad or inside of Iran.
1. Issuance of PoA for the Foreigners who want to benefit from the services of an official lawyer in Iran
Currently, it is not applicable for the foreigners to benefit from the electronic applications that are normally used for granting a PoA. Therefore, they have to sign the official letter of PoA of a certified lawyer in paper. This kind of PoA letters are issued by the BAR Association of the country merely for the certified lawyers.
2. Issuance of PoA for the Iranian citizens living abroad who are willing to approach a lawyer in Iran
- All Iranians abroad, including compatriots living in the United States, Canada and Australia who need to hand over a civil Power of Attorney to another person to pursue their administrative tasks in Iran, must register their initial application on the "Mikhak" website and receive a tracking code;
- The client or the attorney must prepare the text and content of the Power of Attorney. This Power of Attorney is acceptable in various institutions in Iran. After determining the type of Power of Attorney and preparing the text, the client must use the "Mikhak" website and if he/she does not have an account on this website, first they need to register and produce a personal panel on this website;
- After reaching the website, the applicant should appoint the section of "the Power of Attorney affairs" and determine the category of the PoA;
- Upon selecting the name of the lawyer, according to the country of residence (in the case of Iranians living in the United States and Canada, the Interests Section of Iran in Washington) the concerned diplomatic centers of Iran in other countries shall be selected;
- In the next part, the detailed ID information of the client and the lawyer shall be inserted, and
- Finally, the content of the Power of Attorney must be inserted in the and the scope of authorities of the lawyer must be determined. A tracking code is temporarily registered to be authenticated in person or absentia depending on the type of country of residence of the client and the Power of Attorney is confirmed by confirming his signature. A link to receive the tracking code and the receipt of Power of Attorney will be provided to the client for download. The scanned version of this receipt shall be kept for record.
3. Iranian People living abroad who need to employ a licensed Iranian lawyer
All Iranian living abroad who need to hand over the judicial Power of Attorney to a licensed lawyer must first register through the Sana System.
- Compatriots who live abroad, to register and verify their ID information in the Sana system shall apply through the following address: https://international.adliran.ir/Sana/Index#/Main
- Initially, the applicant is asked to enter his identity information. Identity information includes national ID Number and date of birth and serial number of the Birth Certificate;
- In the second step, the terms and conditions of the website shall be accepted by the applicant;
- The complimentary information shall be inserted at this stage and then a photo must be uploaded to complete the registration;
- Upon full registration, the applicant receives a code from Sana System. The code shall be delivered to the appointed lawyer through which the latter could finalize the process of issuance of the electronic PoA.
4. Iranian living inside the country and want to grant Power of Attorney for their non-judicial purposes
The above-mentioned group shall refer to one of the Notary publics in person and grant a PoA to the appointed lawyer for non-judicial affairs.
5. Iranian living in the country and need a licensed lawyer
Iranians who are residents of Iran shall grant a judicial Power of Attorney through the Sana System (special website of Iran's Judiciary Power).
Notarized Power of Attorney for the sales of property and banking operations in the Iranian law
Notarized Power of Attorney even with full
Power, doesn't provide a lawyer for selling a property under
Iranian law.
For selling a property the lawyer shall be granted by a precise PoA
which has at least the following information: detailed information
of the property, its type (i.e. movable or immovable), the expected
price of transaction.
Same as above, for financial transactions and banking affairs a very precise PoA with the exact scope of authority is required.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
