HAGUE APOSTILLE CONVENTION

In 1961, several nations collaborated to develop a streamlined process for ‘legalizing’ papers so that all countries could recognize them. As a result of the Hague Convention, the introduction and proliferation of a document known as an Apostille were approved by conference participants. All member nations would recognize this document.  The USA is a member of the Hague Convention, eliminating the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents on October 15th, 1981.

WHAT DOES THE APOSTILLE CONVENTION DO

The Apostille Convention offers the streamlined verification of public (even notarized) documents for use in nations that have signed the convention. Documents meant for use in participating countries and their domains will be certified by one of the authorities in the jurisdiction where the document has been produced.

The Convention lowers all legalization procedures to merely delivering a certificate in a defined form, designated ‘Apostille,’ by the State authorities where the document originated. This certificate, put on the paper, is dated, numbered, and registered. The verification of its registration may be carried out without trouble using a simple request for information submitted to the body that supplied the certificate.

BACKGROUND

The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, the Apostille Convention, or the Apostille Convention, is an international treaty negotiated by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). Documents issued in one contractual state may be certified for legal purposes in all other participating states using the modalities specified by this convention. Certification under the convention’s requirements is termed an apostille or Hague apostille. It is an international certification analogous to a notarization under domestic law and generally complements a local notarization of the document. If the convention applies between two nations, such an apostille is sufficient to guarantee a document’s authenticity and avoid double-certification requirements.

Apostilles are affixed by Competent Authorities authorized by the government of a state that is a party to the convention. These authorities are collected at the Hague Conference on Private International Law. Instances of designated authorities include embassies, ministries, courts, or municipal administrations. As an illustration, in the United States, the Secretary of State of every state and their subordinates are typically competent authorities. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Milton Keynes, England, is responsible for issuing all apostilles in the United Kingdom. 

The goal of the Convention is to replace the conventional necessity of legalization, replacing the lengthy and expensive legalization procedure with a single Apostille certificate issued by a Competent Authority in the country from where the document originated. The electronic Apostille Program (e-APP) was developed in 2006 to assist in the electronic issue and verification of Apostille across the globe.

HOW TO QUALIFY AS AN APOSTILLE DOCUMENT

To be qualified for an apostille, a document should first be issued or verified by an official acknowledged by the body that will provide the apostille. For instance, in the U.S. state of Vermont, the Secretary of State keeps specimen signatures of all notaries public, so papers notarised are eligible for an apostille. Likewise, courts in the Netherlands are allowed to put an apostille on any municipal civil status papers immediately. 

Before an apostille may be issued, the nation where the document was issued initially may demand further confirmations. For example, the New York Secretary of State does not directly recognize the Office of Vital Records in New York City (which, among other things, produces birth certificates).  As a result, the signature of the City Clerk must be confirmed by the County Clerk of New York County to make the birth certificate suitable for an apostille. 

It has been made possible by the Apostille Convention for public papers to be signed in one State Party and produced in another State Party may be circulated. It achieves this by reducing the tedious and sometimes expensive procedures of a complete legalization process (chain certification) with the simple issuing of an Apostille (also called Apostille Certificate or Certificate) (also called Apostille Certificate or Certificate). The Convention has also conclusively demonstrated its utility for States that would not necessitate foreign public documents to be regularised or who do not recognize the notion of legalization in their domestic law. The citizens in these States enjoy the benefits of the Convention anytime they desire to produce a domestic public document in another State party that also, for its part, needs authentication of the document concerned.

WHERE WOULD THE APOSTILLE CONVENTION BE APPLICABLE

The Convention applies solely to public document materials. All of those are documents arising from a jurisdiction or official linked with a court or tribunal of the State (which include documents submitted by an administrative, constitutional, or ecclesiastical court or tribunal, a public prosecutor, a clerk, or a process-server); administrative documents; notarial acts; and official certificates which are positioned on documents approved by persons in their private capacity, including such official certificates capturing the registration of a document or the fact that it was in emergence on a specific date and official and notarial authentications of signatures.

The main examples of public documents for which Apostilles are issued in practice include birth, marriage, and death certificates, extracts from commercial registers and other registers, patents, court rulings, notarial acts, and notarial attestations of signatures as well as academic diplomas issued by public institutions. Apostilles may also be provided with a certified copy of a public document. But in the other extreme, the Convention neither applies to papers produced by diplomatic or consular agents nor to administrative documents directly concerned with business or customs activities (this second exclusion is to be interpreted)

The charge for obtaining an apostille varies significantly by nation. The HCCH computed an average cost of EUR 15.43 in 2016 after compiling fees from 54 countries. Some governments, such as France and Japan, do not impose a fee, whereas Australia costs 85 AUD, one of the most. In certain countries, the charge varies by location, authority, number, purpose, or kind of document. The state of Indiana in the United States does not charge a price for apostilling a birth certificate, though the state of Connecticut does, and that amount is USD 40 USD. 

WHAT ARE THE ELIGIBLE DOCUMENTS FOR APOSTILLING

The Convention enumerates certain documents that are eligible to be apostilled. These would be [A.]  court documents; [B.]  administrative documents (e.g., civil status documents); [C.] notarial acts, and [D.] official certificates which are placed on documents signed by persons in their private capacity, such as official certificates recording the registration of a document or the fact that it was in existence on a specific date and official and notarial authentications of signatures.

It is one of the most commonly used multilateral legal cooperation accords, with several million Apostilles issued yearly with more than 120 Contracting Parties.

However, the Convention does not apply to documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents or administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations. 

WHAT DOES LEGALIZATION MEAN

A state that has not ratified the convention must explain how foreign legal papers might be certified for its use. Two nations may establish a particular convention on recognizing each other’s public documents, although, in reality, this is unusual. Unless otherwise specified, the document must always be certified by the foreign ministry of the nation from which it originated and then by the government’s foreign ministry of the country to which it will be used; one of the certifications is often accomplished in an embassy or consulate. This implies the document must be certified twice before it may have legal force in the receiving nation.

REQUIREMENTS TO COMPLY WITH THE APOSTILLE CONVENTION

Apostilles authenticate the seals and signatures of officials on public documents such as birth certificates, court orders, or any other document issued by a federal agency or certified by an American or foreign consul. An apostille certifies the document(s) so the document can be recognized in foreign countries that are members of the 1961 Hague Convention Treaty. Apostilles are currently issued solely for federal documents in countries members of the 1961 Hague Convention. To verify the authenticity of a signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted, and, where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which it bears, a certificate issued by the competent authority of the State will be referred to.

The notary public must notarize each document before it may be submitted for authentication. It is required that a notary public’s commissioning office and secretary of state both certify the notarized documents if done so as commissioned by a county.

In the case of state-appointed notaries, only the secretary of state in the notary’s home state may certify the document.

To get any document notarized and certified,  it is imperative to follow the protocol. This would mean that notarized signatures are required after document issuance. If notarized signatures require additional validation,  it may be necessary to have the document validated by the court clerk. Suppose a document needs certification from an administrative official and a judicial official(the clerk of court and secretary of state). In that case, the date on which each certification was performed must be marked.

Notarizations are required before a request can be complied with.  All seals and signatures must be originals.  For anyone to accept the copies, they must be ‘true certified copies’ from a notary public. There is no such thing as a notary public certifying papers as ‘true copies’ when it comes to official records such as birth and death certificates and divorce decrees. The secretary of state is required to authenticate these papers.

An accurate translation of any document written in a foreign language must be performed by a professional translator and notarized.

Sources

1. From Latin post illa and afterward French: a marginal note

2. In Japan, all official papers are published in Japanese; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan may then offer an apostille for these documents. In India, the apostille certification may be acquired from the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, following validation by the government of the Indian state where the document was issued (for educational papers)

3. Article 1 

The present Convention shall apply to public documents executed in the territory of one Contracting State and which have to be produced in the territory of another Contracting State. 

For the present Convention, the following are deemed to be public documents: 

a)documents emanating from an authority or an official connected with the courts or tribunals of the state, including those emanating from a public prosecutor, a clerk of a court, or a process-server(‘huissier de justice’);

b)administrative documents;

c)notarial acts;

d) Official certificates are placed on documents signed by persons in their private capacity, such as official certificates recording the registration of a document or the fact that it was in existence on a specific date, as well as official and notarial authentications of signatures.

However, the present Convention shall not apply: a)to documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents;

b)to administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations

4. Article 2 

Each  Contracting  State shall be exempt from legalization documents to which the present  Convention applies and which have to be produced in its territory.  For the  present  Convention, legalization means only the formality by which the diplomatic or consular agents of the country in which the  document  has  to  be  produced  certify  the  authenticity  of  the  signature,  the  capacity  in  which  the person signing the document has acted and, where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which it bears

5. Article4

The certificate referred to in the first paragraph of Article 3 shall be placed on the document itself or an ‘allonge’; it shall be in the form of the model annexed to the present Convention. It may, however, be drawn up in the official language of the authority which issues it. The standard terms appearing therein may also be in a second language. The title ‘Apostille (Convention de LaHaye du 5 October 1961)’ shall be in French.

Article 5

The certificate shall be issued at the request of the person who has signed the document or any bearer. When correctly filled in, it will certify the signature’s authenticity, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted, and,  where appropriate,  the identity of the seal or stamp the document bears. The signature, seal, and stamp on the certificate are exempt from all certification