“Legalisation” is the term generally used to
describe the procedure for certifying the authenticity of
an official or “public”
document,
so that it will be acceptable in a foreign country.
Whether or not any particular document needs, or is able,
to be legalised, depends on the type of document and the
requirements of the particular country in which the
document is to be used.
More narrowly [and perhaps more correctly], the term
“legalisation” is also used to describe the
procedure whereby the consular authorities of one country
certify the authenticity of a document produced in the
country where the consulate is located, so that it can be
used in their home country. This procedure is also known as
“consularisation”.
There are various countries which do not require any
legalisation of Notarial and other “public”
documents produced in England and Wales at all, such that
the documents can be sent to those countries without
further formality. However, very many countries
do
require at least one further step, and sometimes two
further steps, before “public”
documents [including Notarial acts] produced in England and
Wales will be acceptable there.
The
Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the
Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public
Documents
simplified matters considerably by the introduction of
the
Apostille
procedure, whereby the defined types of “public
document” [including Notarial acts] will be given an
official certificate of authenticity by the relevant
“competent authority” in the country where the
documents are produced. For the United Kingdom, the
“competent authority” is the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office. For those countries which are Member
States of this Convention, the “apostillised”
document should then be acceptable there without further
formality. However, the detailed rules vary from country to
country, and are changed by individual countries from time
to time, so you should check on the up-to-date legalisation
requirements with the respective countries’
consulates or embassies
first.
Please
click
HERE for
the full text of
the above Hague Convention of 5 October
1961.
Please
click
HERE for
the webpages of the
Legalisation Office of the U.K.'s Foreign and Commonwealth
Office.
Please
click
HERE
for information on whether or not individual Member States
are
parties to the above Convention.
CLICK
HERE
FOR LIST OF MEMBERS OF "NEW"