Apostille
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Apostille is a French word which means a certification. It is commonly used in English to refer to the legalisation of a document for international use under the terms of the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. A document which has been certified with a conformant apostille is accepted for legal use in all the nations that have signed the Hague Convention. It is comparable (but not identical) to an attestation by a notary public in common law systems.
In countries which are not signatories to the 1961 convention and do not recognize the apostille, a foreign public document must be legalised by a consular officer of the country from which the document is issued. Template:Law-stub de:Apostille