New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs stated today that it has circulated guidelines to all State and Union Territory Governments, as well as academic institutions, to remove any further requirement of legalization of an apostilled document for use in India.
There is no further attestation or legalization by an Indian Mission/Post of an apostilled document is required for use in India, as India is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, the MEA stated, while mentioning that it had been brought to the notice of this Ministry that some institutes/organizations/establishments in India demand an apostilled document of a member country to be further attested by the Indian Mission/Post in that country.
It stated that an apostilled document should be treated as legalized document in India by all concerned, in accordance with the international obligation under the Hague Apostille Convention,” it stated.
The Hague Apostille Convention, 1961, abolishes the requirement of legalization of foreign documents for use in any member country, once a document is apostilled (including e-Apostille) by a competent authority of the country where the document originates, and facilitates the use of public documents abroad. The purpose of the Convention is to abolish the traditional requirement of legalisation, replacing the often long and costly legalisation process with the issuance of a single Apostille certificate by a Competent Authority in the place where the document originates. The electronic Apostille Programme (e-APP) was launched in 2006 to support the electronic issuance and verification of Apostilles around the world.
The Hague Conference on Private International Law Conférence de La Haye de droit international privé (HCCH) has currently 89 members: 88 States and 1 Regional Economic Integration Organisation.
– global bihari bureau
