© Luise Ostler – Schoeman Attorneys 2013

NOTARIAL AUTHENTICATIONS –

GENERAL GUIDELINES

South African documents for use

abroad

Which country you intend to use documents in will determine the nature of the

authentication process that you will have to follow. A fairly simple two stage process

can be followed when you intend to use documents in a country that is a party to the

Hague Convention dated 5 October 1961, namely the Convention Abolishing the

Requirements of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Where the country in

which you intend to use documents is not a party to the Convention the process

becomes more complicated as there are four stages that need to be completed.

Use in countries party to the Hague Convention – a 2 stage process

At the moment the following countries are parties to the Convention:

Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria,

Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and

Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cook Islands,

Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican

Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany,

Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel,

Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein,

Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands,

Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Namibia, Netherlands,

New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niue, Norway, Oman, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal,

Romania, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the

Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles,

Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Suriname, Swaziland,

Sweden, Switzerland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United

Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Uruguay,

Uzbekistan, Vanuatu and Venezuela.

© Luise Ostler – Schoeman Attorneys 2013

Documents intended for use in one of the above-mentioned countries can be

authenticated as follows:

Stage one: The documents are taken to a South African Notary Public and signed in

his/her presence, or in the case of notarially certified copies, the original

documents are displayed to the Notary. The Notary will attach an

authentication certificate to the documents which certificate will bear the

Notary’s signature, stamp and seal.

Stage two: The Notary will then send your duly authenticated documents to the High

Court in the area in which he/she practices where the court will attach an

apostille certificate authenticating the Notary’s signature.

Once both the Notary’s certificate and the apostille certificate are attached to your

documents they are ready for use abroad.

Use in countries not a party to the Hague Convention – a 4 stage process

Where the country you intend to use documents in is not a party to the

abovementioned convention the process becomes substantially more complicated.

Stage one: The documents are taken to a South African Notary Public and signed in

his/her presence, or in the case of notarially certified copies, the original

documents are displayed to the Notary. The Notary will attach an

authentication certificate to the documents which certificate will bear the

Notary’s signature, stamp and seal.

Stage two: The Notary will then send your duly authenticated documents to the High

Court in the area in which he/she practices where the court will attach an

authentication certificate (as opposed to an apostille).

Stage three: The documents must then be sent to the legalisation section at DIRCO

(The Department of International Relations and Co-operation) in

Pretoria where they will be legalised.

© Luise Ostler – Schoeman Attorneys 2013

Stage four: Finally, the documents must be sent to the embassy or consulate of the

country in which they are intended for use for their final authentication.

Once the four stages above have been completed the documents are ready for use

abroad.

Foreign documents for use inside the Republic of South Africa

Foreign documents to be used in the Republic need to be authenticated as per the

requirements of Rule 63 of the Uniform Rules of Court. In terms of Rule 63, where a

document is to be used in South Africa it will be considered to have been duly

authenticated at such foreign place if it bears the signature and seal of office:

(a) of the head of a South African diplomatic or consular mission or a

person in the administrative or professional division of the public

service serving at a South African diplomatic, consular or trade office

abroad; or

(b) of a consul-general, consul, vice-consul or consular agent of the United

Kingdom or any other person acting in any of the aforementioned

capacities or a pro-consul of the United Kingdom;

(c) of any Government authority of such foreign place charged with the

authentication of documents under the law of that foreign country; or

(d) of any person in such foreign place who shall be shown by a certificate

of any person referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) or of any

diplomatic or consular officer of such foreign country in the Republic to

be duly authorised to authenticate such document under the law of that

foreign country; or

(e) of a notary public in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern

Ireland or in Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Botswana or Swaziland; or

(f) of a commissioned officer of the South African Defence Force as

defined in section one of the Defence Act, 1957 (Act 44 of 1957), in the

case of a document executed by any person on active service.

© Luise Ostler – Schoeman Attorneys 2013

The documents can be authenticated according to the apostille process applicable in

the country from which the documents originate where such country is a party to the

Convention. Where the country is not a party to the Convention the standard

procedure is for the documents to be authenticated by an official of the South African

Consulate or Embassy in that country. The official would generally attach a

Certificate of Authentication bearing his/her signature, stamp and seal to the

documents.

Cautionary note

The information provided above is aimed to be an outline of the general rules

applicable to the authentication of documents. Different countries may change their

own requirements and may even withdraw from the Convention without publicising

same. It is therefore important to verify the applicable rules at the time that you are

arranging for the authentication of your documents.

It should also be noted that in some cases an apostille, High Court certificate of

authentication or any further legalisation is not necessary and authentication by a

Notary Public only will suffice. In order to save yourself time and money it is

advisable to check with the institution or person to whom the documents will be sent

as to exactly what their requirements are.