How far can you “p.p.” on behalf of your clients?

Interestingly, the act of “pp’ing” on behalf of your clients seems to be common practice, but is not always appropriate.

The definition from Wikipedia is clear;  Procuration (Lat. procurare, to take care of) is the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency. The word is applied to the authority or power delegated to a procurator, or agent, as well as to the exercise of such authority expressed frequently by procuration (pro persona), or shortly per pro., or simply p.p.

Essentially, it is a Latin phrase meaning that you are signing the letter on somebody else’s behalf.

In legal terms, this may be disputed as to the level of authority it holds and certainly no where does it state that you can sign credit card charge forms or confirmation of booking forms on behalf of your client.

I am led to believe that consultants ‘have been known’ to send through booking forms to tour operators confirming the necessary details of their clients booking, but “p.p.’ing” them on their clients behalf.  This is not appropriate and poses a risk to both yourself and the tour operator.

Remember nothing replaces an original signature better than the original signature.