The purpose of the Convention is to abolish and simplify the traditional requirement of legalisation of foreign public documents for use overseas by issuing an ‘apostille’. Hague member counties recognise official public documents with an apostille as legal documents within member states.

The Hague Apostille Convention is officially known as :

The Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents.

The Hague Apostille Convention refers to the treaty that counties signed in 1961 [1].

Certification under the Convention is called an apostille or ‘Hague apostille’.

Here is an up-to-date list of all current Hague member countries

You can read more about the Apostille Convention on the following external web pages: