4.1. Legalisations of Public Documents

In order to be valid in Argentina, all foreign private and/or public documents must be legalised by an Argentine Consulate or - in case the country belongs to The Hague Convention of 1961 and if the document is of one of the types comprised by this treaty by the local authority entitled to fix the Apostille stamp.

The Hague Convention is an international treaty meant to avoid long legalisation chains in order for a public document to be valid in other countries. Each member country has named a local authority responsible for its application.Both the consular legalization and the Apostille certify the authenticity of the signature belonging to the authority that issued a certain document, comparing it to the signatures specimens in their archives.

The documents' signatures must be presented in original and be accompanied by name and title of the signatory printed below.

The United Kingdom is one of the countries who signed The Hague Convention. Thus, to be valid in Argentina, the documents issued by a british authority that are included in the categories listed in the treaty, must be legalized by the Apostille and need no consular intervention. On the other hand, the documents excluded from the Convention require the consular legalisation.

According to The Hague Convention Art. No. 1, the Apostille is applied to the following documents, which are called public:

a) Documents issued by an authority or an officer belonging to a state tribunal, including those issued by an a public attorney, a judicial secretary or a judicial officer

b) Administrative documents

c) Notarised documents

d) Official certifications on documents signed by private persons, such as the certification of a document´s registration or certain date, or the authentication of signatures on private documents.

The Convention excludes the following documents:

-Documents issued by diplomatic or consular officers

-Administrative documents directly related to trade or customs operations

The Apostille on Argentine documents The Consulate is not auhorized to issue the Apostille. The Apostille must be requested in Argentina: at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship or at any Association of Notaries Public (Colegios de Escribanos). However, only in exceptional cases and with prior authorization from the said Ministry, the Apostille may be requested at a Consulate. Even in this case, the stamp will have to be fixed by the authorities in Argentina.

 

The Apostille on foreign documents The Apostille legalisation procedure is valid only on public documents issued by the following countries: Germany, Austria, Andorra, Armenia, Australia, Bahamas, Belize, Bosnia, Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia, El Salvador, Slovenia, United States of America, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Mexico, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Panama, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Venezuela and Yugoslavia. In order to have British documents legalized with the Apostille, please contact the Legalisation Office, Foreign & Commonwealth Office.