Ga. Code § 24-9-902 : EVIDENCE — AUTHENTICATION AND IDENTIFICATION — GENERALLY —9-902 - Self-authentication

Extrinsic evidence of authenticity as a condition precedent to admissibility shall not be required with respect to the following:

(1) A document bearing a seal purporting to be that of the United States or of any state, district, commonwealth, territory, or insular possession thereof or the Panama Canal Zone or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands or of a political subdivision, department, officer, or agency thereof or of a municipal corporation of this state and bearing a signature purporting to be an attestation or execution;

(2) A document purporting to bear the signature in the official capacity of an officer or employee of any entity included in paragraph (1) of this Code section having no seal, if a public officer having a seal and having official duties in the district or political subdivision of the officer or employee certifies under seal that the signer has the official capacity and that the signature is genuine;

(3) A document purporting to be executed or attested in an official capacity by a person authorized by the laws of a foreign country to make such execution or attestation and accompanied by a final certification as to the genuineness of the signature, official position of the executing or attesting person, or of any foreign official whose certificate of genuineness of signature and official position relates to such execution or attestation or is in a chain of certificates of genuineness of signature and official position relating to such execution or attestation. A final certification may be made by a secretary of embassy or legation, consul general, consul, vice consul, or consular agent of the United States or a diplomatic or consular official of the foreign country assigned or accredited to the United States. If reasonable opportunity has been given to all parties to investigate the authenticity and accuracy of official documents, the court may, for good cause shown, order that such documents be treated as presumptively authentic without final certification or permit such documents to be evidenced by an attested summary with or without final certification;

(4) A duplicate of an official record or report or entry therein or of a document authorized by law to be recorded or filed and actually recorded or filed in a public office, including data compilations in any form, certified as correct by the custodian or other person authorized to make the certification by certificate complying with paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of this Code section or complying with any law of the United States or of this state, including Code Section 24-9-920;

(5) Books, pamphlets, or other publications purporting to be issued by a public office;

(6) Printed materials purporting to be newspapers or periodicals;

(7) Inscriptions, signs, tags, or labels purporting to have been affixed in the course of business and indicating ownership, control, or origin;

(8) Documents accompanied by a certificate of acknowledgment executed in the manner provided by law by a notary public or other officer authorized by law to take acknowledgments;

(9) Commercial paper, signatures thereon, and documents relating thereto to the extent provided by general commercial law;

(10) Any signature, document, or other matter declared by any law of the United States or of this state to be presumptively or prima facie genuine or authentic;

(11) The original or a duplicate of a domestic record of regularly conducted activity that would be admissible under paragraph (6) of Code Section 24-8-803 if accompanied by a written declaration of its custodian or other qualified person certifying that the record:

(A) Was made at or near the time of the occurrence of the matters set forth by, or from information transmitted by, a person with knowledge of such matters;

(B) Was kept in the course of the regularly conducted activity; and

(C) Was made by the regularly conducted activity as a regular practice.

A party intending to offer a record into evidence under this paragraph shall provide written notice of such intention to all adverse parties and shall make the record and declaration available for inspection sufficiently in advance of their offer into evidence to provide an adverse party with a fair opportunity to challenge such record and declaration; or

(12) In a civil proceeding, the original or a duplicate of a foreign record of regularly conducted activity that would be admissible under paragraph (6) of Code Section 24-8-803 if accompanied by a written declaration by its custodian or other qualified person certifying that the record:

(A) Was made at or near the time of the occurrence of the matters set forth by, or from information transmitted by, a person with knowledge of those matters;

(B) Was kept in the course of the regularly conducted activity; and

(C) Was made by the regularly conducted activity as a regular practice.

The declaration shall be signed in a manner that, if falsely made, would subject the maker to criminal penalty under the laws of the country where the declaration is signed. A party intending to offer a record into evidence under this paragraph shall provide written notice of such intention to all adverse parties and shall make the record and declaration available for inspection sufficiently in advance of their offer into evidence to provide an adverse party with a fair opportunity to challenge such record and declaration.

OCGA § 24-9-902

Added by 2011 Ga. Laws 52,§ 2, eff. 1/1/2013.