Apostilles and the Cerification of Foreign Documents Because of the international nature of our practice we are frequently called upon to produce documents created in one country for use in the legal proceedings of another. When the documents to be produced bear a stamp of law in the country in which they were produced, such as a court document or a document which has been notarized there, the question arises as to how to maintain that stamp of legal authority when the document is produced in a jurisdiction other than that in which it was created. This technical issue can be vitally important as a key piece of evidence could be deemed inadmissable if the proper procedures are not followed.
The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents ("the Convention"; see full text here) was designed to facilitate the circulation of public documents created in one Party State and their production in the proceedings of another. Public documents include court documents, administrative documents, notarial acts, and documents bearing official certifications which testify to the performance of a private act, such as a notarial authentication of signatures, or verification that a document was in existence on a certain date. The mechanisms established under the Convention replace the former cumbersome process which required the involvement of diplomatic officials of the country in which the document was to be produced.
Under the Convention, each party State designates authorities competent to issue certifications as to the authenticity of the documents at issue. These certifications are called apostilles and must be in a particular form.
The following are external links providing information about the identity of the bodies authorized to issue apostilles in the named countries and territories. Please note that we take no responsibility for the accuracy of information contained in external links. :
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