Indonesia’s government has finally ratified the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (“Apostille Convention”) through the issuance of Regulation of the President No. 2 of 2021 (“Regulation 2/2021”) that has been in force since 5 January 2021.
The Regulation marked the simplifying foreign public documents named Apostille Certification.
However, it does not mean that all the provision about the legalization is revoked, only to public documents are subject to this provision. Therefore, the private documents still need to do the legalization process.
Apostille Certification in General
To know about Apostille Certification, we have to know first the definition of legalization. Legalization is a formality for a diplomatic or consular officer of the state must produce a document confirming the authenticity of the signature, authorized signatories of the document, and the identity of the seal or stamp attached to the document (if any).
The issuance of Regulation 2/2021 that ratified the Apostille Convention abolishes the legalization process and replaces it with a simpler formality called Apostille Certification. Nonetheless, the result of Apostille Certification is the same as legalization, which is for the issuance of an authentication certificate by the competent authority.
Types of Foreign Public Documents that allowed to have Apostille Certification
According to Article 1 Apostille Convention, the follows are types of a public document that are exempt from general legalization:
1. Documents emanating from an authority or an official connected with the courts or tribunals of the state
The terms “courts or tribunal” may apply to judicial courts and tribunals and administrative tribunals, constitutional tribunals, and religious courts.
2. Administrative Documents
An administrative document is a document issued by an administrative authority, such as:
- Birth, death, and marriage certificates, as well as certificates of non-impediment;
- Extracts from official registers;
- Grant of patent or other intellectual property rights;
- Grants of license;
- Medical and health certificates;
- Criminal and police records; and
- Educational documents.
3. Notarial Acts
A notarial act is an instrument or certificate drawn up by a notary that sets out or perfects a legal obligation or formally records or verifies a fact or something that has been said, done, or agreed. When authenticated by the signature and official seal of the notary, the notarial act has become a public document. However, the notarial act does not refer to an instrument or certificate drawn up by a notary but rather to a function of a notary public to authorized—for example, jurats and acknowledgements.
4. Official certificates that are placed on documents signed by a person in a 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
Exception for Apostille Certification
As has been said before, private documents are not allowed to have Apostille Certification, but not every public document is subject to Apostille Convention. The Convention does not apply to the following categories of documents:
- Documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents;
- Administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations; and
- Based on Regulation 2/2021, documents issued by the prosecutor
It means that the documents above are not a document that exempts from general legalization. Even though the documents issued by a public institution, such as documents issued by prosecutor and documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents, still need legalization as usual.
The Procedure of Apostille Certification
The procedure above applies to all contracting states, including Indonesia. The apostille certificate should be issued by the competent authority designated by the contracting states.
Gaffar & Co., Indonesian Boutique Law Firm which specializing and focus on commercial law areas e.g. Investment Regulatory & Corporate Secretary.
Read More: The Simplicity of Halal Product Licensing in Indonesia
For further queries and information, contact us:
+62 21 2271 5060 | info@gaffarcolaw.com | www.gaffarcolaw.com
Author: Salsabila Hanisa
