On December 31, 2021, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia issued a decree providing for the country’s accession to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, the Apostille Convention, or the Apostille Treaty.
In the coming months, Saudi Arabia will join the Apostille Convention. The Apostille Convention will replace the traditional and cumbersome legalization procedure with a single formality: issuing an “apostille” certificate that will be accepted in countries that are also members of the Apostille Convention. So far, there are 121 contracting parties.
An apostille, issued by the respective state of origin, then confirms the origin of a public document to be presented abroad to another contracting party. This simplified framework is intended to make the international circulation of public documents much easier for individuals and businesses.
With Royal Decree M/40 of December 31, 2021, Saudi Arabia is now creating the legal basis to implement the Convention into domestic law.
Other Arab countries already are members of the Apostille Convention: Bahrain, Morocco, Oman, and Tunisia.
