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A friend of mine needs to get a federal document authenticated for a legal case in a foreign court. The first part of the authentication process requires that the document be signed or bear the seal of the agency that issued it. The document my friend needs is neither signed nor bears any seal.

Is there any FOIA-like law or process by which federal agencies would sign or otherwise authenticate the documents they issue?

Addendum: As correctly noted in the comments, the authentication process will involve the department of state at some point. The issue here is that for the document to be authenticated by the DoS, the document:

Must include a legible signature of the official's name, printed name and title, and seal of the agency

‒ Source - under "Authentication certificates"

This question asks about any laws or process that would allow my friend to satisfy this requirement.

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  • Just curious: how would that document, the statements it contains, or the fact that the US government published it, be useful in a court proceeding? It's just general information about oxycodone, and doesn't seem likely to bear on the facts of any case.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Jun 28, 2022 at 13:20
  • I would guess this would go through the State Department Office of Authorizations, but it's not clear from the web site how it applies to this particular document.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Jun 28, 2022 at 13:26
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    @NateEldredge’s question is possibly relevant here. Depending on what info you need, there may be another document that would be a better choice to authenticate the info. For instance, if you need “oxycodone is Schedule II in the United States,” you might want to look for the actual law or regulation listing it instead of a fact sheet.
    – cpast
    Jun 28, 2022 at 13:27
  • @NateEldredge This information was requested by the lawyer handling the case to establish the existence and legitimacy of this medication in the country where it was prescribed because oxycodone is not recognized in the country where my friend was detained.
    – desperate
    Jun 28, 2022 at 15:43
  • I think at this point, it is not about law but about State Department procedure. If you don't get an answer here, I would see if you can contact the Office of Authorizations and ask.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Jun 28, 2022 at 16:07

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