When the incorporation documents for a company are issued in one country, with the intention to use the company in another country, a businessperson may have problems in having these corporate documents legally acknowledged in the other country where he/she plans, for instance, to open a representative office of the company, or establish a bank account.

     In such cases, additional authentication of the foundation documents may be required. For example, it may be necessary to have the documents authenticated as being true documents by the 'other country' Consulate, in the country of incorporation of the company.

     The Hague Convention ('Convention den Haag'), adopted in 1961, has to a great extent simplified the procedures for official acknowledgement of documents issued in other countries. According to the Hague Convention, all official and legal bodies in countries which have signed the Convention, must acknowledge the legal validity of a foreign document, if a special seal, the so-called 'Apostille' or 'Apostille den Haag', is attached to the foreign document.

Apostille issued by the Secretary of the State of Oklahoma (USA).	Apostille issued by the Secretary of the State of Nevada (USA).

     The specific appearance of an apostille (see illustration) has certain different features in each country, but its general form is standard and according to the Hague Convention, a certificate of Apostille must include 10 criteria (see below). The first four criteria refer to the document to be certified, and the last six refer to the Apostille itself:

     The question of whether a document requires certification by Apostille is difficult to answer in simple 'Yes' or 'No' terms. Any documents legally issued by an official body of any country, such as the Registrar of Corporations, Chamber of Commerce, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc., or legally issued by a company, are valid and legitimate in their own right, and may well be accepted in other countries without the need for any certification of any kind - therefore a company can operate for years, without encountering any request for additional authentication of its corporate documents. Thus, legalisation of corporate documents is usually necessary only when it is specifically requested - for instance, legalisation by Apostille may be requested by foreign business partners for contractual reasons, or state officials for the purposes of establishing a representative office of a company in another country, or by a bank in another country in order to open an account for a company.

     However, it is the professional recommendation of IOS that whenever a company is to be used in another country, a full set of the corporate/foundation documents of the company should be legalised by Apostille. This Apostillised set can then be accepted internationally in any country, which is a signatory to the Hague Convention.

     Apostillisation procedures can be performed in any country, which has signed the Hague Convention. In our opinion, one of the most prestigious Apostillisation procedures is an Apostille seal issued by The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (BFCO), in London, England, which can be conveniently accomplished through the IOS offices in London. BFCO Apostillisation of a full set of the corporate foundation/incorporation documents takes approximately 4/5 days, and the total cost of Notary/Solicitor verification, and subsequent Apostillisation per document does not exceed USD 80 (minimum 5 documents).