|
SCHEDULE A
CONVENTION ABOLISHING THE REQUIREMENT OF LEGALISATION FOR FOREIGN PUBLIC
DOCUMENTS (CONCLUDED OCTOBER 5, 1961):
The States signatory to the present Convention, Desiring to abolish the
requirement of diplomatic or consular legalisation for foreign public
documents, Have resolved to conclude a Convention to this effect and have
agreed upon the following provisions:
Article 1. The present Convention shall apply to public documents which have
been executed in the territory of one Contracting State and which have to be
produced in the territory of another Contracting State. For the purposes of
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 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 certain date and 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.
Article 2. Each Contracting State shall exempt from legalisation documents to
which the present Convention applies and which have to be produced in its
territory. For the purposes of the present Convention, legalisation 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.
Article 3. The only formality that may be required in order to 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, is the addition of the certificate described in Article 4,
issued by the competent authority of the State from which the document
emanates.
However, the formality mentioned in the preceding paragraph cannot be required
when either the laws, regulations, or practice in force in the State where the
document is produced or an agreement between two or more Contracting States
have abolished or simplified it, or exempt the document itself from
legalisation.
Article 4. The certificate referred to in the first paragraph of Article 3
shall be placed on the document itself or on 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 be in a second language also. The title "Apostille
(Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)" shall be in the French language.
Article 5. The certificate shall be issued at the request of the person who
has signed the document or of any bearer.
When properly filled in, it will 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 the document bears. The
signature, seal and stamp on the certificate are exempt from all
certification.
Article 6. Each Contracting State shall designate by reference to their
official function, the authorities who are competent to issue the certificate
referred to in the first paragraph of Article 3.
It shall give notice of such designation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the Netherlands at the time it deposits its instrument of ratification or of
accession or its declaration of extension. It shall also give notice of any
change in the designated authorities.
Article 7. Each of the authorities designated in accordance with Article 6
shall keep a register or card index in which it shall record the certificates
issued, specifying: a) the number and date of the certificate, b) the name of
the person signing the public document and the capacity in which he has acted,
or in the case of unsigned documents, the name of the authority which has
affixed the seal or stamp.
At the request of any interested person, the authority which has issued the
certificate shall verify whether the particulars in the certificate correspond
with those in the register or card index.
Article 8. When a treaty, convention or agreement between two or more
Contracting States contains provisions which subject the certification of a
signature, seal or stamp to certain formalities, the present Convention will
only override such provisions if those formalities are more rigorous than the
formality referred to in Articles 3 and 4.
Article 9. Each Contracting State shall take the necessary steps to prevent
the performance of legalisations by its diplomatic or consular agents in cases
where the present Convention provides for exemption.
Article 10. The present Convention shall be open for signature by the States
represented at the Ninth Session of the Hague Conference on Private
International Law and Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein and Turkey. It shall be
ratified, and the instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
Article 11. The present Convention shall enter into force on the sixtieth day
after the deposit of the third instrument of ratification referred to in the
second paragraph of Article 10. The Convention shall enter into force for each
signatory State which ratifies subsequently on the sixtieth day after the
deposit of its instrument of ratification.
Article 12. Any State not referred to in Article 10 may accede to the present
Convention after it has entered into force in accordance with the first
paragraph of Article 11. The instrument of accession shall be deposited with
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
Such accession shall have effect only as regards the relations between the
acceding State and those Contracting States which have not raised an objection
to its accession in the six months after the receipt of the notification
referred to in sub-paragraph d) of Article 15. Any such objection shall be
notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. The Convention
shall enter into force as between the acceding State and the States which have
raised no objection to its accession on the sixtieth day after the expiry of
the period of six months mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
Article 13. Any State may, at the time of signature, ratification or
accession, declare that the present Convention shall extend to all the
territories for the international relations of which it is responsible, or to
one or more of them. Such a declaration shall take effect on the date of entry
into force of the Convention for the State concerned. At any time thereafter,
such extensions shall be notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Netherlands. When the declaration of extension is made by a State which has
signed and ratified, the Convention shall enter into force for the territories
concerned in accordance with Article 11. When the declaration of extension is
made by a State which has acceded, the Convention shall enter into force for
the territories concerned in accordance with Article 12.
Article 14. The present Convention shall remain in force for five years from
the date of its entry into force in accordance with the first paragraph of
Article 11, even for States which have ratified it or acceded to it
subsequently. If there has been no denunciation, the Convention shall be
renewed tacitly every five years. Any denunciation shall be notified to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands at least six months before the
end of the five-year period. It may be limited to certain of the territories
to which the Convention applies. The denunciation will only have effect as
regards the State which has notified it. The Convention shall remain in force
for the other Contracting States.
Article 15. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands shall give
notice to the States referred to in Article 10, and to the States which have
acceded in accordance with Article 12, of the following: a) the notifications
referred to in the second paragraph of Article 6; b) the signatures and
ratifications referred to in Article 10; c) the date on which the present
Convention enters into force in accordance with the first paragraph of Article
11; d) the accessions and objections referred to in Article 12 and the date on
which such accessions take effect; e) the extensions referred to in Article 13
and the date on which they take effect; f) the denunciations referred to in
the third paragraph of Article 14.
In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed
the present Convention. Done at The Hague the 5th October 1961, in French and
in English, the French text prevailing in case of divergence between the two
texts, in a single copy which shall be deposited in the archives of the
Government of the Netherlands, and of which a certified copy shall be sent,
through the diplomatic channel, to each of the States represented at the Ninth
Session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law and also to
Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein and Turkey.
|
