On March 8, 2023, China acceded to the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. The Convention will enter into force in China on November 7, 2023.
The Convention is the most widely applicable and contracting international treaty under the framework of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, and aims to simplify procedures for the transnational circulation of public documents. From November 7, public documents sent by China to other contracting countries for use can be sent to other contracting countries for use only by applying for an additional certificate (Apostille) stipulated in the Convention, without the need for consular authentication by Chinese and the embassies and consulates of the contracting States in China. If the public documents of other contracting States are sent to mainland China for use, only the additional certificate of that country needs to be obtained, and there is no need to apply for consular authentication by the embassies and consulates of the country and the Chinese embassy or consulate there.