In international matters there may be a need to submit official documents issued by Polish authorities. In such a situation, in order for the document to be authentic, it is necessary to obtain an apostille clause.
Obtaining a clause (seals) apostille standardizes the Convention abolishing the requirement to legalise foreign official documents from 5 October 1961, The so-called Hague Convention.
The Convention shall apply to official documents drawn up in the territory of one of the signatory States to be submitted to the territory of another Contracting State. The list of States Parties to the Hague Convention can be reviewed on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Convention provides for simplified procedures for obtaining legalisation of official documents without the need to initiate a legalisation procedure at the consulate.
Obtaining the apostille clause allows the document to be submitted to the competent authorities, offices, authorities, institutions of another State which is party to the Hague Convention.
Apostille shall be issued at the request of the holder of the document. The Convention shall consider as official documents: documents originating from a judicial authority or official, including documents originating from the prosecutor, the judicial secretary or the service officer, administrative documents, notarial acts, official certificates on documents signed by persons acting in a private capacity, such as official certificates certifying the registration of the document or the fact that it exists on a given date and official and notarial certificates of signatures.
The application for apostille seals on the authentic instrument shall be lodged with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a tax fee 60 PLN (for each certified document). An application may also be submitted by a proxy.
It is important that some documents before giving apostille to the MFA may require additional authentication, such as:
notarial and judicial documents require prior certification by the President of the local district court responsible (the certificate is also necessary when the document comes from the district court),
diplomas for the title of specialist, certificates of deposit of LEP/LDEP and LEK/LDEK, documents issued by the local authorities of the medical professions (e.g. medical chambers, nurse and midwife chambers, pharmacy chambers) - the document must be previously certified by the Ministry of Health,
Master diplomas and craft certificates – the document requires prior certification by the Association of Polish Crafts in Warsaw,
commercial documents, require prior certification by the National Chamber of Commerce or the locally competent regional Chamber of Commerce.
In the case of certain documents, exceptionally, apostille gives a different authority than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and so for example:
- documents issued in connection with the course or completion of the apostille studies shall be assigned by the National Agency for Academic Exchange,
- documents published by art schools apostille is given by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport.
However, it should be noted that it is not possible to certify with the apostille clause of electronic documents (!), e.g. administrative decisions issued in electronic form with electronic signature.
It should be recognised that, in a time of galloping digitization, including in particular in the area of justice or administrative matters, the lack of rules to enable the acquisition of apostille on electronic documents is a kind of absurdity which makes it impossible in extreme cases to deal with matters of the citizen abroad.
This is an important legal loophole that should be hoped for, will be noticed and eliminated by the legislator.