Few institutes of the law of bills of exchange are understood in such a wrong manner as the bill protest. It is, though, quite clear: the bill protest is a written qualified certificate that a certain participant of the bill relationships (the debtor, usually) was asked to fulfill his obligations (to pay the bill, usually) but he failed to do so. The content of the certificate and the organs that may issue such an instrument are determined by the law (comp. Article I, Sections 79 and 80, BECA).
In addition to evidentiary purposes, the protest has the effect of the second preserving act (the first one being presentment). If the possessor does not have this certificate issued, it can even lead, in some cases, to extinction of bill rights. As a typical example we may mention the extinction of rights against all indirect debtors which happens when the periods set for protesting non-acceptance or non-payment are missed (in detail, see Article I, Section 53, Paragraph 1, BECA).
The possessor may be relieved from the duty of protest by including the clause "without protest" in the bill (or by a clause of a similar meaning).
Protest must contain: the names of the persons for whom and against whom it is being made; the information that the person against whom the protest is being made has been, to no avail, requested to act on the bill of exchange, or that the person could not be contacted, or that neither the premises where he does business nor his apartment could be located; the information about the place and time when the request or the failed attempt at such a request has been made; a note, in cases of acceptance or payment for honour, from whom, for whom and how the acceptance or the payment for honour was offered or made; in the event that the drawee to whom the bill of exchange was presented for acceptance requests that it be presented to him again on the following day, a note about this fact; a literal copy of the bill of exchange (copy) with all endorsements and a notes; the signature of the protesting body and the official seal or the official stamp.