Electronic Power of Attorney Is Now Available

ELECTRONIC POWER OF ATTORNEY IS NOW AVAILABLE

Following the first authorisation of its kind anywhere in the world, an electronic power of attorney was accepted and recognised in Portugal

The attorney Januario Lourenco, in partnership with an English legal IT company, has launched the ProcuracaonaHora.Com (meaning instant power of attorney) website, representing the beginning of the modern age for the dematerialisation of the paper version of the power of attorney.

The instant power of attorney consists of an electronic version that will allow any citizen to grant electronically powers of representation to any legal or civil attorney using current technology and his/her, specific official digital ID granted by the Portuguese authorities; thus, this version will have the same legal standing as the signed paper version of a power of attorney.

Several entities have collaborated with and participated in this project, amongst which we highlight Multicert, INCM, and CTT. As to the technology employed, apart from that related to the actual Website, there was that used with this digital ID, the smart card reader manufactured by GemPlus of the United States and some Microsoft software.

The team that developed this project, apart from its creator, was made up of Carlos Gama, currently undertaking his Masters Degree in IT at Liverpool University and also working as Systems Administrator at the European Nuclear Research Centre (CERN) in Geneva, Armando Simoes da Silva, graduate in economics from London School of Economics, Sonia Sousa Pereira, official court mediator registered with the Ministry of Justice, Lisbon, and doing a masters at School of Medicine, Lisbon, the legal advisers Ana Alexandra Remedios and Rogerio Ribeiro Santos, both postgraduates in penal, economic, and European law from the Coimbra University Law School.

The magistrate receiving the first electronic power of attorney has applied to it the same legal recognition, thus, creating a judicial precedent in admitting to receive, as part of the lawsuit, this version, dispensing with the usual need for a hard copy and starting a new era in e-justice world-wide, placing Portugal at the forefront of e-government yet again.

To date, only seven countries use digital ID, or a civil identification document, which contains a valid electronic signature required for executing legal acts remotely by computer without the need of attending any public office. The other six confirmed nations are Austria, Estonia, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Italy.

In practical terms, any Portuguese citizen resident anywhere world-wide, or any Brazilian citizen resident in Portugal and covered by the Porto Seguro Treaty, may use or apply for a digital ID, permitting the electronic signing of documents without the need to leave home, including the electronic power of attorney now created by the undersigned.

The electronic power of attorney may serve, among other applications, for lawsuits at courts of law, or, also as a civil power of attorney with specific powers that do not require validation from higher authorities, including the selling of cars, or any other non-real estate assets, obtaining certificates from public registries, applying for the registration of real estate transactions, etc.

Mr Januario Lourenco is a postgraduate of Coimbra University Law School, having published a collective paper through this institute designated “Estudos de Direito da Comunicacao”, has also practised as a law attorney since 2000, is a specialist in cybercrime law, having further worked for three years as the IT Senior Technical Support Officer at SonaeCom.

The website where the service is available can be found at and is freely available in Portugal and abroad from today for issuing electronic powers of attorney in conjunction with the issuers Portuguese digital ID.