1. The Convention
Signed at The Hague on 5 October 1961, in force from 24 January 1965.
Its purpose: to abolish the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents among its parties.
2. What it replaced
The chain of notarisation, foreign ministry authentication and embassy legalisation, document by document.
3. The mechanism
A single certificate, the apostille, added to the public document by a competent authority of the state of origin.
The receiving state accepts it without further authentication.
4. The three functions of the apostille
It certifies the authenticity of the signature.
It certifies the capacity of the signatory.
It certifies, where applicable, the identity of the seal or stamp.
5. What it does not do
It does not certify the content of the document.
It does not make an invalid document valid.
It does not replace requirements that a receiving authority imposes on the substance.
6. The requirement that survives
A translation, where the destination requires one.
7. The structure worth remembering
The apostille is a chain-link remover, not a content certifier.
8. Closing view
The Convention did one thing extremely well: it removed three steps and replaced them with one.
*This article is based on the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents.*