NewsJune 17 , 2022
Major Relief for Overseas Pakistanis as Islamabad Accedes to Apostille Convention
The Express Tribune
Islamabad: In a major relief for overseas Pakistanis the accession to Apostille Convention has been approved, Head of Prime Minister's Strategic Reforms Salman Sufi revealed.
“Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working to implement & notify notaries across Pakistan to attest documents which will be acceptable at all Hague convention signatory countries,” Sufi wrote on his official Twitter handle.
The ‘Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents,’ also known as the Apostille Convention, is an international treaty drafted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH).
The convention is intended to simplify the procedure through which a document, issued in one of the contracting states, can be certified for legal purposes in all the other contracting states.
After Pakistan officially joins the Apostille Convention, documents attested as per the requirements of this treaty will be accepted in the 122 member states.
The Apostille Convention replaces the traditional and cumbersome legalization process with a single formality; the issuance of a certificate called an Apostille. An Apostille, issued by the State of origin, authenticates the origin of a public document so that it can be presented abroad to another contracting party. This simplified framework facilitates the circulation of public documents internationally for individuals, families, and commercial operators.
The convention only applies to “public documents”. This term is not expressly defined in the convention. The public nature of a document is determined by the law of the place where the document originates. It may extend to any document that is not a private document. While the list is not exclusive, Article 1 of the Convention provides a number of examples: 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; administrative documents; notarial acts; and 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 notarial authentications of signatures.
In practice, the most popular public documents for which Apostilles are issued are civil status documents (e.g., birth, marriage, and death certificates), notarial authentications of signatures, and diplomas and other educational documents. – The Express Tribune
Courtesy The Express Tribune
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