好消息！涉外公证认证流程将得到极大优化 双语版（下）
Hot wire! Foreign-Related Notarization, Authentication and Legalization Process will be Greatly Optimized (II)
Apostille公约，1961年10月5日获得通过，自1965年1月24日正式生效，目前全球已有124个国家或地区加入Apostille公约，包括中国香港、中国澳门、英国、美国、西班牙、爱尔兰、新加坡等国家或地区。
The Apostille Convention was adopted on October 5, 1961, and has entered into force since January 24, 1965. At present, 124 countries or regions around the world have acceded to the Apostille Convention, including Hong Kong , Macao, the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, Ireland, Singapore and other countries or regions.
正如我们前文介绍的，在传统国际交往实践中，为保障交易安全，需要通过一系列官方机构对跨国公文上的签名或印鉴进行验证。但长期以来，公文跨境使用必须经公证认证给国际往来带来极大的不便。海牙国际私法会议因此制定了一项旨在取消外国公文须经外交或领事认证的公约，使公文在成员国之间流转时，免除领事认证手续，仅需公文发出国外事主管机关签发的附加意见证明书即可，这就是Apostille公约，它是海牙国际私法会议框架下适用范围最广、缔约成员最多的重要国际条约。但我国一直未加入，所以，中国现今加入Apostille公约是跨境公文认证领域的一个重要的里程碑，是中方扩大外国公文流转领域制度型开放的重要举措，将带来两大红利。
As we mentioned earlier, in traditional international communication practice , in order to ensure transaction security, it is necessary to verify the signatures or seals on transnational instruments through a series of official institutions。 However, for a long time, the cross-border use of public documents must be notarized, authenticated and legalized, which has brought great inconvenience to international communication。 The Hague Conference on Private International Law has therefore formulated a Convention aimed at abolishing the diplomatic or consular legalization of foreign public documents, which allows for the exemption of consular legalization procedures when such documents are circulated between member countries, requiring only one additional opinion certificate issued by the foreign affairs authority of the country where the documents are issued。
This is the Apostille Convention which is an important international convention with the widest scope of application and the largest number of contracting members under the framework of the Hague Conference on Private International Law。 However, China has not acceded to the Apostille Convention for a long time。 Therefore, China's accession to the Apostille Convention today is an important milestone in the field of cross-border public documents legalization, and a significant measure for China to expand the institutional openness in the field of foreign-related public documents circulation, which will bring two benefits。
首先，我们先来解读下Apostille公约（共计15个条文）的主要内容。
Firstly, let's interpret the main contents of the Apostille Convention (15 articles total).
1.Apostille公约第2条对使领馆认证进行了界定，“仅指文件接收国的外交或领事机构为证明签字的真实性、文件签署人行为的身份以及如果需要的话，鉴定文件印章而履行的手续。”可见，使领馆认证只是对公文上印章和签名真实性的证明，并不涉及文书的实质内容。文书的内容是否真实，由文书出具机构负责；是否符合文书使用国法律，则由文书使用国的接受机关负责审查。
Article 2 of the Apostille Convention defines Legalization, which “means only the formality by which the diplomatic or consular agents of the country in which the document has to be produced certify the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted and, where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which it bears.” It can be seen that diplomatic orconsular legalization is only a proof of the authenticity of the seal and signature on the public document , and does not involve the substantive content of the document. Whether the content of the document is true or not is the responsibility of the document issuing institution; Whether it complies with the laws of the country where the instrument is used shall be examined by the receiving authority of the country where the instrument is used.
2.Apostille公约只适用于“公文”，且Apostille公约对“公文”有一个定义。Apostille公约第1条确认下列所指为公文“（1）一国的机关或者某法院或法庭的官员签发的文件，其中包括由检察官、法院书记员（“执达员”）签发的文件；（2）行政文书；（3）公证文书；（4）对个人以私人身份所签署的文件的官方证明，例如，对某个文件的注册或其在某日存在的事实进行记录的官方证书，以及对签字的官方和公证证明”。可见，Apostille公约认定的公文范围还是很广泛的，仅不适用于“外交或领事机构办理的文书”及“与商业或海关事务直接有关的行政文书”。
The ApostilleConvention only applies to “public documents”, and the Apostille Convention has a definition on “public documents”。 Article 1 of the Apostille Convention confirms that the following are deemed to be “public documents”, “(1) 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 (“huissier de justice”); (2) administrative documents; (3) notarial acts; (4) 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 official and notarial authentications of signatures” 。
It can be seen that the scope of public documents recognized in the Apostille Convention is very broad, and they only do not apply to “documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents” or “administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations”。
3.在Apostille公约下，证明签字真实性、文件签署人行为的身份以及适当的文书印鉴鉴定，都不再需要使领馆认证，唯一可能需要办理的手续是文件签发国主管机关签发一个附加证明书。事实上，按照《公约》第3条的规定，如果根据文件接收国现行法律、法规或实践，或者根据两个或两个以上缔约国间的协议，前述手续已被取消或简化，或者已免除了对文件本身的认证，就不要再要求履行这一手续了。
Under the Apostille Convention, it is no longer necessary for a legalization to certify the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted and where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which it bears. The only formality that may be required is the addition of the certificate issued by the competent authority of the country from which the document emanates. In fact, this addition of the certificate may also be exempted. According to the provisions of Article 3 of the ApostilleConvention, the above mentioned formality cannot be required when either the laws, regulations, or practice in force in the country where the document is produced or an agreement between two or more contracting members have abolished or simplified it, or exempt the document itself from legalization.
其次，我们再来解读中国加入Apostille公约后将带来的红利。
Secondly, let’s interpret the benefits that will be brought after China’s accession to the Apostille Convention.
1.优化流程，降低成本Optimize Process and Reduce Costs
中国加入Apostille公约后，将对上述公文书的使领馆认证改为海牙认证，这将大幅提高公文的传递效率及大幅降低文书跨国流转的时间和经济成本。
After China’s accession to the Apostille Convention, it will change the legalization of the above-mentioned public documents from diplomatic or consular legalization to the Hague certificate, which will greatly improve the transmission efficiency of the public documents and significantly reduce the time and economic costs of the cross-border circulation of documents.
海牙认证即APOSTILLE认证。指由海牙成员国政府机构统一出具的，对原认证的签发人（通常是当地公证处或国际公证人）进行的二级认证，并在认证书上加盖印章或标签，这个过程就叫做APOSTILLE认证加签（即海牙认证）。
The Hague Certification is Apostille. It refers to the second-level certification issued by the government agencies of the member countries in the Hague to the original certification issuer (usually a local notary office or an international notary), and the certificate shall be stamped or labeled. This process is called Apostille plus signature (i.e., Hague Certificate).
海牙认证有三大优势：
The Apostille has three advantages:
a)时间短：海牙认证流程比较简单，能有效减少时间成本；
Short-term: The Apostille process is relatively simple, which can effectively reduce the time cost;
b)范围广：目前大部分国家或者地区都承认Apostille公约；
Wide Scope: At present, most countries or regions recognize the Apostille Convention;
c)有效力：根据Apostille公约规定，海牙认证文件可以在任何承认Apostille公约的国家或者地区使用，文件是具备对应的域外法律效力的。
Validity: According to the Apostille Convention, the Hague Certificate document can be used in any country or region that recognizes the Apostille Convention, and the document has the corresponding extraterritorial legal effect.
对于普通公民而言，意味着可以更加方便快捷地办理在海外可能需要的健康证明、驾照证明、学位证明、户口证明等文书。加入Apostille公约之后，办妥一份出国使用的文书，时间可从约20个工作日减少到几个工作日，费用也会大幅下降。每年可为中外人员和企业节省巨大金额的办证费用。缔约国间办理文书流转手续时间平均减少约90%。
For ordinary citizens, it means that they can more easily and quickly handle documents such as health certificates, driver's license certificates, degree certificates, household registration certificates, etc., that may be required overseas. After joining the Apostille Convention, the time for completing a document for using abroad can be reduced from about 20 working days to a few working days, and the cost will also be significantly decrease. It can save a huge amount of certificate processing costs for Chinese and foreign personnel and enterprises every year. The average time for the circulation of documents between contracting members has decreased by about 90%.
2.优化营商环境Optimize the Business Environment
入约后，有意向中国投资、出口的外国企业无需为商业文书办理使领馆认证，中方超过70%的出口贸易所涉商事文书亦将因此受益。
After joining the Apostille Convention, foreign enterprises interested in investing and exporting to China have no need to apply for diplomatic or consular legalization for commercial documents, and more than 70% of the commercial documents involved in China's export trade will also benefit from this.
但需要注意的是，在涉外民事诉讼领域活动中，对于境外法律文书的认证，仍旧要等待最高法院做出新的司法解释，对涉外证明文件的形式要件做出新的规定。相信国内的配套法律法规也会逐步进行相应修订，为保障Apostille公约在我国的顺利实施。
However, it should be noted that in the field of foreign-related civil litigation activities, the legalization of foreign legal documents still needs to wait for the Supreme Court to make a new judicial interpretation and make new provisions on the formal requirements of foreign-related certification documents. It is believed that the domestic supporting laws and regulations will be gradually revised in order to ensure the smooth implementation of the Apostille Convention in China.
作者 郭倩雯
限 时 特 惠： 本站每日持续更新海量各大内部创业教程，一年会员只需98元，全站资源免费下载 点击查看详情
站 长 微 信： lzxmw777
