Commonwealth Numbered Acts

FOREIGN EVIDENCE ACT 1994 No. 59 of 1994 - SCHEDULE

SCHEDULE
HAGUE CONVENTION ABOLISHING THE REQUIREMENT OF LEGALISATION
FOR FOREIGN PUBLIC DOCUMENTS 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 agents;
b) to administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs
operations.
Article 2
Each contracting State shall exempt from legalisation documents to which the
present Convention applies and which have to be produced in its territory. For
the purposes of the present Convention, legalisation means only the formality
by which the diplomatic or consular agents of the country in which the
document has to be produced certify the authenticity of the signature, the
capacity in which the person signing the document has acted and, where
appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which it bears.
Article 3
The only formality that may be required in order to certify the authenticity
of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has
acted and, where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which it
bears, is the addition of the certificate described in Article 4, issued by
the competent authority of the State from which the document emanates.
However, the formality mentioned in the preceding paragraph cannot be required
when either the laws, regulations, or practice in force in the State where the
document is produced or an agreement between two or more contracting States
have abolished or simplified it, or exempt the document itself from
legalisation.
Article 4
The certificate referred to in the first paragraph of Article 3 shall be
placed on the document itself or on an "allonge", it shall be in the form of
the model annexed to the present Convention.
It may, however, be drawn up in the official language of the authority which
issues it. The standard terms appearing therein may be in a second language
also. The title "Apostille (Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)" shall be
in the French language.
Article 5
The certificate shall be issued at the request of the person who has signed
the document or of any bearer.
When properly filled in, it will certify the authenticity of the signature,
the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted and, where
appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which the document bears.
The signature, seal and stamp on the certificate are exempt from all
certification.
Article 6
Each contracting State shall designate by reference to their official
function, the authorities who are competent to issue the certificate referred
to in the first paragraph of Article 3.
It shall give notice of such designation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the Netherlands at the time it deposits its instrument of ratification or of
accession or its declaration of extension. It shall also give notice of any
change in the designated authorities.
Article 7
Each of the authorities designated in accordance with Article 6 shall keep a
register or card index in which it shall record the certificates issued,
specifying:
a) the number and date of the certificate,
b) the name of the person signing the public document and the capacity in
which he has acted, or in the case of unsigned documents, the name of the
authority which has affixed the seal or stamp.
At the request of any interested person, the authority which has issued the
certificate shall verify whether the particulars in the certificate correspond
with those in the register or card index.
Article 8
When a treaty, convention or agreement between two or more contracting States
contains provisions which subject the certification of a signature, seal or
stamp to certain formalities, the present Convention will only override such
provisions if those formalities are more rigorous than the formality referred
to in Articles 3 and 4.
Article 9
Each contracting State shall take the necessary steps to prevent the
performance of legalisations by its diplomatic or consular agents 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.
Signatures omitted
ANNEX TO THE CONVENTION
Model of certificate
The certificate will be in the form of a square with sides at least 9
centimetres long
APOSTILLE
(Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)
(MODEL OF CERTIFICATE OMITTED)