Contents:

FOREWORD Chapter One Legalizing Documents without The Hague Convention Chapter Two Background to The Hague Convention Chapter One What Is An Apostille? The Text Of The Hague Convention Chapter Two The Effect Of The Hague Convention Chapter Three How to Use this Book Chapter Four A Country-by-Country Guide Appendix A Countries and Territories to which The Hague Convention applies Bibliography Background to The Hague Convention

Summary:

International business today is increasingly confronted by the administrative challenges posed by the legalization procedures of foreign countries for a wide range of official and private documents. The rapid increase in the number of new states, the growth of international business and the number of persons living and studying abroad has greatly increased the need for a compilation of the rules and procedures relating to the legalisation of documents for international use. Company memoranda articles of association, powers of attorney, trademarks, distributorship agreements, good standing certificates, certificates of merger, deeds of assignment and patent applications are only some of the documents which on a daily basis require legalization for use abroad by business. Individuals travelling, studying or emigrating frequently require legalized statements of marital status, transcripts of academic records and birth certificates. Widespread ignorance about legalization procedures cause frequent delays in concluding international business transactions. In some cases The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents has eased the administrative burden of international legalisations. As of January 1996, over eighty states are party to the Hague Convention. However, many of the procedures used before the Hague Convention are still used today by non-member countries and will apply where one of the countries involved in a legalization procedure is not a party to the Convention. The format of this guide is easy to use. Chapter One describes the traditional legalization procedures. The background to the Hague Convention is examined in Chapter Two, followed by the text and an explanation of how the Hague Convention has affected the legalization requirements of member countries. Chapter Three explains how to use the country-by-country guide provided in Chapter Four. The guide is intended to provide consulate officials, bankers, accountants, lawyers, paralegals and other professionals with a quick, easily accessible, and reliable reference source that offers them a pathway through the legalization labyrinth.