International document traffic
When the International Certificate traffic it comes to the use of a certificate issued in a state certificate in a second state. The recipient state often requires that the evidential value of a document be determined in a special procedure. The basic procedure in international document traffic is legalization . Several multinational and binational agreements have been concluded over the years to simplify the certification of documents. The most important with over 90 participating states is the Hague Convention on the Issuance of an Apostille .
legalization
Legalization is a formal procedure in which the diplomatic or consular representation of a country in which a foreign public document is to be used for evidence purposes confirms the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the signatory acted. Legalization aims to ensure that a foreign public document is treated as equivalent to a domestic public document with regard to its probative value.
The legalization itself is usually carried out by the diplomatic representation of the state in which the document is to be used. In most cases, an intermediate or over-certification by the superior authority of the issuing authority, as well as a final certification by a ministry is required. In some countries, the legalized document has to be authenticated again by the foreign ministry's own department before it is considered equivalent in Germany.
International conventions
Hague apostille
The apostille is the form of certification for documents according to the multilateral convention No. 12 of the Hague Conference on Private International Law of 1961. It enables a significant simplification of the document traffic, since the participation of the recipient state in the certification is no longer necessary. The apostille is attached to the document in a uniform format. Often, however, an interim certification from an authority is necessary. The document with an apostille can then be used there without being authenticated by the recipient country.
CIEC Convention
Civil status certificates and certificates of marital status that have been issued in several languages in accordance with the conventions of the International Commission for Civil and Personal Status (CIEC) are recognized in the member states of the convention without further authentication. For civil status certificates such as birth , death and marriage certificates , this is regulated in the Convention on the Issuance of Multilingual Excerpts from Civil Status Books / Civil Status Registers between 21 European countries. Twelve countries have acceded to the Convention on the Issuance of Certificates of Marriage
Binational agreements
The reciprocal, bilateral agreements between Germany, Switzerland and Austria provide for the complete abolition of the certification.
Individual countries
European Union
With the adoption of Regulation 2016/1191 in 2016, all civil status documents are mutually recognized in the European Union . A form of certification is no longer required. If the certificate is issued in an official language of the European Union, no translation is necessary.
Germany
The Federal Republic of Germany is a member of the Hague Convention and has ratified the CIEC Convention on Civil Status Certificates and Certificates of Marriage. The implementation of legalization by consular officers is regulated in Section 13 of the Consular Act. According to this, a consular officer is authorized to legalize foreign documents issued in his district.
Germany has objected to the accession of several states to the Hague Agreement. The Hague Convention does not apply bilaterally between Germany and the countries mentioned. It is a legalization necessary or no certification possible.
Germany no longer legalizes documents from certain countries with unsafe documents . If necessary, the content of the information in the document is checked by investigations by lawyers of confidence in the respective German diplomatic mission in the relevant country.
Austria
In Austria, in addition to the legalization office of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs , other authorities can also apply an apostille. If legalization is necessary, the superior authority of the issuing authority must attach the intermediate authentication before the office for consular authentication attaches the final authentication.
United States
The notifying authorities for civil status documents that are intended for international traffic are the interior authorities of the states (usually called State Department ). For federal deeds or when notarization by a federal agency is required, this is done by the Office of Authentications of the US State Department .
literature
- Wolfgang Vatter: International legal contracts : international legal relations in civil and administrative proceedings; systematic representation for all countries in the world . Loose-leaf collection (= Edition Juridica ). 1st edition. MANZ Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 978-3-214-10725-3 (1462 pages).
Web links
- International document traffic , Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Legalization in Austria
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e International document traffic. In: www.auswaertiges-amt.de. Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, June 7, 2018, accessed on December 20, 2019 .
- ↑ 12: Convention of October 5, 1961 for the Exemption of Foreign Public Documents from Legalization. In: www.hcch.net. Hague Conference on Private International Law, accessed December 20, 2019 .
- ^ Convention (No. 16) on the issue of multilingual extracts from civil status records. (pdf) In: www.ciec1.org. The International Commission on Civil Status, September 8, 1976, accessed December 20, 2019 .
- ↑ Convention (No. 20) on the issue of certificate of legal capacity to marry. (pdf) In: www.ciec1.org. The International Commission on Civil Status, September 5, 1980, accessed December 20, 2019 .
- ↑ Regulation (EU) 2016/1191
- ↑ Recognition of public documents in the EU. In: europa.eu. European Union, accessed December 20, 2019 .
- ^ Certification in Austria. In: www.bmeia.gv.at. Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs, accessed on December 20, 2019 .
- ↑ Apostille, civil status documents. In: www.germany.info. German missions in the United States, accessed December 20, 2019 .
- ^ Authenticate Your Document. In: travel.state.gov. US Department of State - Bureau of Consular Affairs, accessed December 20, 2019 .
