Ovjeriti

Ovjeriti is a verb used in several South Slavic languages, including Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, and Montenegrin. It means to certify, attest, authenticate, or validate something—typically a document, a copy, or a signature—with formal assurance that it is genuine or correctly reproduced. The related noun forms include ovjera (attestation, certification) and ovjeritelj (the person who performs the attestation, often a notary or equivalent official).

In practice, ovjeriti is applied in legal and administrative contexts. Common acts include ovjeravanje potpisa (attesting a signature), ovjera preslike/dokumenta (certifying a copy of a document), and ovjera prijevoda (certifying a translation). The act is usually carried out by an official authority such as a javni bilježnik (public notary) in Croatia or by analogous authorities in other jurisdictions; in some cases, banks, government agencies, or authorized professionals can perform certain forms of ovjera.

A certified copy or certified signature carries legal effect in many transactions, such as contracts, administrative filings, or cross-border paperwork. It is important to distinguish ovjera from the verification of the truth of the document’s content; attestation confirms the authenticity of signatures or copies, not the factual accuracy of the information within the document.

Etymologically, ovjeriti derives from a root associated with trust or verification, and the noun ovjera denotes the attestation itself. The term is widely used in civil law contexts across the region, often mirrored by equivalent terms in the local legal systems.