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France has joined the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents in the year 1965. Therefore no diplomatic authentication or legalization of documents from France is required for the legal communication with another member state of the convention. The documents only need to be stamped with an "apostille" by the issuing state's authorities in order to be valid in the state of destination.
France has further bilateral agreements with several European countries. In these countries, no legalization of documents from France is required. However, as a precaution, we recommend that you still get an apostille in some cases. We will check for you free of charge whether you need the apostille.
Responsible for issuing the apostille are the following institutions:
- Court of Appeals (Paris)
- Local Courts of Appeals
An apostille is a stamp of rectangular shape. The heading "Apostille (Convention de La Haye du 5 Octobre 1961)" must be in French.
The following documents can be authenticated by apostille:
- Certificates of civil status (certificates of birth, death, marriage and divorce)
- Education documents (school reports, certificates, diplomas)
- Trade register excerpts
- Judicial decisions
- Notarially certified copies of documents
- Notarially certified translations
- Further notarial documents (authorizations, last will, declarations)
- Commercial documents legalized by a state organ of registration (articles of incorporation, registration certificates, tax registrations etc.)
Requirements for the documents:
An apostille can be issued exclusively on an original document. Therefore, the latter must be in an apparent good condition, all stamps and signatures have to be clear and readable. Furthermore, it must not contain alien marking and labels.
Additional services
In addition to the legalization of your documents, we can provide you with high-quality translations.
If you want to bring company information before the court, it needs to be legalised as well. We are therefore offering extracts from the commercial register of France including apostille and translation.
France Apostille Service - Original Documents Express Service
Express Service 7-10 Business Days