Certified Section 24 — Apostille and Notary | certifiedsection24.com
A comparison of what each certification does, when each is required, and how they differ in legal effect abroad.
Notarisation and the apostille answer different questions. Notarisation confirms that a signature is genuine, that an oath was administered, or that a copy faithfully reproduces an original. The apostille confirms the capacity of the signatory and, where applicable, the seal on a public document issued in a contracting state.
A notary public is a public officer who validates signatures, administers oaths and affirmations, takes affidavits and authenticates the execution of certain documents. The notary public is a common-law office and should not be confused with civil-law notaries, whose role in civil-law systems differs.
An apostille is an international certification comparable to a notarisation; where the convention applies, it removes the need for further certification by the destination state. Notarisation alone does not have that effect: a notarised document still needs the apostille to be accepted abroad without further steps.
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The two are often sequential rather than alternative. A privately signed power of attorney is notarised first, then apostilled by the competent authority of the issuing state. A birth certificate issued by a registry office is already a public document and may go straight to the apostille step.
Fees differ as well. Notarisation fees follow national fee schedules, while apostille fees range from 0 to 180 USD across contracting states, with an average of 15.43 EUR in a 2016 HCCH compilation of 54 states. Some states, such as Italy and Japan, charge no fee for an apostille.
The timing rules also differ. The convention enters into force 60 days after the deposit of a state's accession, subject to a six-month objection window for other contracting states; notarisation has no such international entry-into-force rule.
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