Apostille Convention enters into force for Singapore

22 September 2021

The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (“Apostille Convention”) entered into force for Singapore on 16 September 2021.

The Apostille Act gives effect to the obligations under the Apostille Convention and facilitates cross-border use of public documents by abolishing the requirement of legalisation for public documents from fellow contracting parties, and replacing legalisation with a one-step process involving the use of apostilles that will be internationally accepted and recognised. This streamlines and modernises the authentication process of public documents for recognition across different jurisdictions and saves time and expense for parties.

Users requiring documents to be produced overseas in countries which are contracting parties to the Apostille Convention should approach the Singapore Academy of Law (“SAL”) for the issuance of apostilles.

Users requiring documents to be produced overseas in countries which are non-contracting parties to the Apostille Convention may also approach the Singapore Academy of Law and, thereafter, the relevant embassies to legalise the documents (if required).

For further information, please refer to our article titled “Apostille Act 2020 abolishes legalisation requirements for foreign public documents from 16 September 2021”.

Reference materials

The following materials are available on the MinLaw website www.mlaw.gov.sg and the Singapore Academy of Law website www.sal.org.sg:

• MinLaw press release 
• SAL Legalisation Poster
• SAL Legalisation FAQs