Apostilles for the PRC

On March 8, 2023, China joined the Hague Convention of 1961 to simplify document certification by way of the placement of Apostille stamps. The convention has entered into legal force for the country as of November 7, 2023.

This means that beginning on November 7, all Russian personal and commercial documents for China must be apostilled. Consular certification with respect to documents from the PRC and Russian documents for the PRC has been annulled.

The annulled consular certification procedure had consisted of the following stages:

• Stage 1: obtain a notarial copy of the original (exceptions: documents processed by a notary – powers of attorney, consent forms, etc.).
• Stage 2: perform a translation into Chinese and have the completed translation notarized.
• Stage 3: submit the documents to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.
• Stage 4: submit the documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
• Stage 5: submit the documents to the consular department of the Embassy of the PRC in Moscow.

An apostille is an international standardized form of registering information regarding the legality of presenting a document on the territories of countries that recognize this form of certification. An apostille is placed on original document forms as well as on notarized copies of them.

An apostille leaves no need for any other form of certification or legalization and is regarded as official by the authorities of all nations which are party to the convention (the Hague Convention of 1961; on public resources, you can familiarize yourself with the list of countries that have signed the Hague Convention).

Not all documents are subject to the requirement to obtain an apostille, rather just official documents (in other words, those issued by state authorities) and notarized documents.

Thus, an apostille is a simplified form of document certification for countries that have signed the Hague Convention of 1961.

You can always ask our company’s specialists how an apostille is placed, which documents are to be apostilled, and which authorities of the Russian Federation have the right to place them.

REMEMBER! Always be sure to ask the host party how exactly your documents need to be processed (whether they must contain an apostille, whether they must come with a notarized translation, or whether they have any other particular requirements for the documents).