(Concluded 5 October 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 ******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.

 

 

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A

Albania - Competent Authority

Andorra - Competent Authority

Antigua and Barbuda - Competent Authority

Argentina - Competent Authority

Armenia - Competent Authority

Australia - Competent Authority

Austria - Competent Authority

Azerbaijan - Competent Authority

B

Bahamas - Competent Authority

Bahrain - Competent Authority

Barbados - Competent Authority

Belarus - Competent Authorities

Belgium - Competent Authority

Belize - Competent Authority

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Competent Authority

Botswana - Competent Authority

Brunei Darussalam - Competent Authority

Bulgaria - Competent Authorities

Burundi - Competent Authority

C

Cape Verde - Competent Authority

China (Hong Kong) - Competent Authorities

China (Macao) - Competent Authority

Colombia - Competent Authority

Cook Islands - Competent Authority

Costa Rica - Competent Authority

Croatia - Competent Authority

Cyprus - Competent Authority

Czech Republic - Competent Authority

D

Denmark - Competent Authority

Dominica - Competent Authority

Dominican Republic - Competent Authority

E

Ecuador - Competent Authority

El Salvador - Competent Authority

Estonia - Competent Authorities

F

Fiji - Competent Authority

Finland - Competent Authority

France - Competent Authority

G

Georgia - Competent Authority

Germany - Competent Authority

Greece - Competent Authority

Grenada - Competent Authority

H

Honduras - Competent Authority

Hungary - Competent Authority

I

Iceland - Competent Authority

India - Competent Authority

Ireland - Competent Authority

Israel - Competent Authority

Italy - Competent Authority

J

Japan - Competent Authority

K

Kazakhstan - Competent Authority

Korea, Republic of - Competent Authorities

Kyrgyzstan - Competent Authority

L

Latvia - Competent Authority

Lesotho - Competent Authority

Liberia - Competent Authority

Liechtenstein - Competent Authority

Lithuania - Competent Authority

Luxembourg - Competent Authority

M

Malawi - Competent Authority

Malta - Competent Authority

Marshall Islands - Competent Authority

Mauritius - Competent Authority

Mexico - Competent Authority

Monaco - Competent Authority

Mongolia - Competent Authority

Montenegro - Competent Authorities

N

Namibia - Competent Authority

Netherlands - Competent Authority

New Zealand - Competent Authority

Nicaragua - Competent Authority

Niue - Competent Authority

Norway - Competent Authority

O

Oman - Competent Authority

P

Panama - Competent Authority

Paraguay - Competent Authority

Peru - Competent Authority

Poland - Competent Authority

Portugal - Competent Authority

R

Republic of Moldova - Competent Authority (Art.6)

Romania - Competent Authority

Russian Federation - Competent Authority

S

Saint Kitts and Nevis - Competent Authority

Saint Lucia - Competent Authority

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Competent Authority

Samoa - Competent Authority

San Marino - Competent Authority

Sao Tome and Principe - Competent Authorities

Serbia - Competent Authority

Seychelles - Competent Authority

Slovakia - Competent Authority

Slovenia - Competent Authority

South Africa - Competent Authority

Spain - Competent Authority

Suriname - Competent Authority

Swaziland - Competent Authority

Sweden - Competent Authority

Switzerland - Competent Authority

T

Tajikistan - Competent Authority

t

the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - Competent Authority

T

Tonga - Competent Authority

Trinidad and Tobago - Competent Authority

Turkey - Competent Authority

U

Ukraine - Competent Authority

United Kingdom - Competent Authority

United States of America - Competent Authority

Uruguay - Competent Authority

Uzbekistan - Competent Authorities

V

Vanuatu - Competent Authorities

Venezuela - Competent Authority