Legalisation Foreign Company Documents

Legalisation is a formality required by the law of certain countries, including Ireland, before foreign documents can be admitted in those jurisdictions as genuine. The issue most commonly arises for the CRO in the context of registrations in relation to external companies.

The following three conventions apply:

Hague Convention


The Hague Convention abolishes legalisation of documents in countries which are party to it, including certain countries outside Europe, and involves the substitution of a single stamp (or apostille) endorsed by one authority; in Irelands case, this is the Department of Foreign Affairs. Consular Services in that Department should be contacted by anyone who wishes to have a document legalised under the Hague Convention for transmission to a foreign country which is party to the Convention.


Scope of the Hague Convention
The documents to which the Convention applies are public documents, which are defined as:

  • court documents;
  • administrative documents i.e. from tribunals;
  • notarial acts;
  • official certificates by private individuals, for instance recording the registration of a document of the fact of its existence on a certain date, and official and notarial authentications of signatures

Note: This Convention does not apply to documents executed by diplomatic or consular officials, or to administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations.

Formalities under the Hague Convention
Where the Convention applies, the only formality that is required in order to certify the authenticity of the signature, the capacity of the signatory or the identity of the seal or stamp, is a certificate pursuant to Article 4 of the Convention. The certificate is headed Apostille (Convention de la Haye du 5 Octobre 1961). If a less stringent regime of legalisation is already in place between the countries concerned, whether as a result of laws, regulations or practices, then the apostille system does not apply.

EC Convention


The EC Convention applies to Ireland only in its relations with those other Member States which have ratified the Convention; Belgium, Denmark, France and Italy.

Council of Europe Convention


The Council of Europe Convention extends to (a) documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents, acting in their official capacity, for production in the territory of another State which is party to the Convention, and (b) official certificates, such as those recording the registration of a document or that it was in existence on a certain date, and authentications of signatures, appended by diplomatic agents or consular officers to documents.

For the list of countries which have ratified the Hague Convention and additional information on all Conventions, see Information Leaflet No. 5a, Legalisation of Foreign Documents.

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