THE APOSTILLE CONVENTION AND ITS APPLICATION IN TÜRKİYE

The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents dated 5 Octobre 1961 (in Turkish, “LaheyYabancı Resmi Belgelerin Tasdiki Mecburiyetinin Kaldırılması Sözleşmesi”), more commonly known as “La Convention de la Haye du 5 Octobre 1961” (hereinafter referred to as the “Apostille Convention”), has been signed on 8 May 1962, ratified by Law No.3028 published in the Official Gazette dated 20 June 1984 and numbered 18517, has entered into force on 29 September 1985.

According to Article 1, the following are considered to be official documents within the scope of the Apostille Convention:

• 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“);
• administrative documents;
• notarial acts;
• 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.

These documents shall be exempt from legalisation of a Contracting State to be produced in the territory of another Contracting Stateunder Article 2. Meaning, the competent authority or consular agents shall certify (i) the authenticity of the signature, (ii) the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted, and (iii) the identity of the seal or stamp the document bears.

However, the Apostille Convention does not apply to documents issued by diplomatic or consular officers, or to administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations.

In should be emphasized that, the second paragraph of Article 3 brings an exclusion clause. According to this provision, the formalities brought by the Apostille Convention cannot be required when (i) either the laws, regulations, or (ii) practice in force in the State where the document is produced or (iii) an agreement between two or more Contracting States have abolished or simplified it (or exempt the document itself from legalisation).

Countries with which Turkey has signed bilateral treaties exempting each other from the apostille certification are; Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Lithuania, Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Albania, Georgia, Tajikistan, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Macedonia, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Austria.

Kindly note that for which documents the apostille is not required is determined in bilateral treaties.

In cases where the other State is not party of the Apostille Convention nor to bileteral treaty with Turkey, local laws apply. In other words, for official documents to be duly submitted to the Turkish authorities, article 224 of the CCP (Code of Civil Procedure) and article 195 of the NPL (Notary Public Law), as well as relevant legislation, shall be applicable. Accordingly, in order to be able to perform transactions in Turkey with the relevant official documents, the signature and seal of the competent authority of that State under the notarial acts duly performed in foreign countries is required to be certified by the Turkish Consulate.

Our Law Firm remains at your disposal for any further clarifications you may need.

Copyright © 2023 Cailliau&Colakel Attorney Partnership, All rights reserved.