Legalization is the process of authenticating or certifying a legal document so a foreign country’s legal system will recognize it as with full legal effect. The legalization has to be done by a civil notary. The notary will have to verify your identity for authenticating the signature.
Take for example John who lives in Norway but wishes to start a BV in the Netherlands. John will have to go to a notary in the Netherlands to give the notary the power to incorporate the BV (power of attorney for incorporation). This document has to be legalized with an authorization certificate. Therefore the notary must verify John’s identity. Normally this will be done at our office in Amsterdam. But if John is not able to come to the Netherlands, it is also possible for him to go to a notary in Norway. In that case the notary in the Netherlands will draft a power of attorney for incorporation and send it to John. John will then have to go to a notary in Norway and ‘legalize’ the document. It is basically a stamp on the document which shows that John really is the person who signed the document.