Apostillation and Notarisation of documents

Apostillation: An Apostille is a stamp of approval to authenticate the signature of the public official who has certified that the documents presented are true and correct. The Apostille then validates that the signature originates from an individual who has the authority to certify the original documents. The Apostilled documents can then be considered as legal within any other member state. A member state being a country that prescribes to the Hague Convention.
Apostille refers to a certificate that authenticates the origin of a public document, making it valid and recognized internationally. The term “apostille” comes from the French word apostiller, meaning “to certify” or “to endorse.”
Purpose: An apostille certifies that the document is genuine and has been issued by an authority recognized in the country where it originated.
International Recognition: Apostillation simplifies the process of verifying documents internationally. Under the Hague Convention of 1961, a member state recognizes documents from other member states with an apostille without needing further legalization or consular validation. There are currently over 120 countries that are part of the Hague Apostille Convention.
India, since 2005, is a member of the Hague Convention that abolished the requirement of legalization of foreign public documents. Apostille is done for personal documents like birth/death/marriage certificates, Affidavits, Power of Attorney, etc. and educational documents like degree, diploma, matriculation and secondary level certificates etc. Any document Apostilled in one member country is acceptable in all the other member-countries, thus greatly simplifying the process of attestation by making it needless to get the documents attested in each or for each of the countries separately.
Need of Apostillation:
• The Apostille serves to streamline the legalisation of a foreign documents.
• The state authority where the document has originated will validate the document by virtue of the fact that it has already been certified by a public official (e.g. a solicitor/public notary).
• The issuing government body will provide a certificate with the date and a unique reference for the Apostille.
• For company incorporation documents (being subsidiary of foreign company) we would need Apostillation of each document to validate.
How to Obtain an Apostille:
1. The process is done through a designated authority in the country of origin, typically the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or a similar governmental agency.
2. The document must first be notarized (in some cases) before it can be apostilled.
3. The authority affixes an apostille, which is a standard form of certification.
Notarisation: Notary public (or notary or public notary) is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public usually concerned with deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business; to administer oaths and affirmations, take affidavits and statutory declarations, witness and authenticate the execution of certain classes of documents, take acknowledgments of deeds and other conveyances, protest notes and bills of exchange, provide notice of foreign drafts and notarial copies, and perform certain other official acts depending on the jurisdiction. Any such act is known as a notarisation.
Thus, apostillation simplifies the process of legalisation of documents all over the world. However, it might still be considered as clumsy, time consuming and not so economical for common man.

Key Differences Between Apostillation and Notarisation
Basis Apostillation Notarisation
Scope International recognition under Hague Convention Primarily national, with possible international use after legalization
Process Done by a designated authority like a Ministry of Foreign Affairs Done by a notary public, an authorized legal professional
Documents Involved Public documents like certificates, court judgments, etc. Personal documents, agreements, powers of attorney, etc.
Use Validates documents for use in other countries that are part of the Hague Convention Verifies the authenticity of signatures and documents for legal purposes
Countries Valid in countries that are signatories to the Hague Convention Valid in the jurisdiction where the notary is authorized