On March 8, 2023, China officially deposited its accession documents to the "Convention on the Abolition of the Requirements for Authentication of Foreign Public Documents" (Apostille Convention) of October 5, 1961. The China Apostille Convention will officially enter into force for China on November 7, 2023. It is worth noting that Hong Kong, China and Macau, China have become members of the Hague Authentication Convention in 1965 and 1969 respectively.
The purpose of the Apostille Convention is to simplify the use of transnational public documents by replacing the cumbersome consular authentication process by issuing a single authenticated document called an "Apostille Certificate". Once the convention comes into effect, Chinese citizens will no longer need to go through consular authentication when using public documents abroad. Instead, they will only need to apply for an apostille certificate, which greatly simplifies the document authentication process.
China Apostille Certification Procedure
If the documents are used in other countries, the following procedures need to be followed:
1. For use by a member country of the Hague Convention Organization, the document just need to notarized by a U.S. notary public and then sent to the Secretary of State for certification (also known as an endorsement).
2. For use by a non-Hague Convention member country, the document must be notarized by a notary first, then sent to the U.S. Secretary of State for certification, and finally certified by the consulate of the using country in the United States.
The San Francisco Notary Office (sfnotaryoffice.com) provides fair, fast, confidential, and professional document notarization and certification services to its customers, and provides certification application services for various assistance programs for small businesses led by socially and economically disadvantaged groups. , helping small businesses secure federal government procurement contracts, gain a foothold in the market, and thrive.
Before the above effective date, consular authentication is still required for international use of documents from mainland China.
How Does the Hague System Work?
WIPO's Hague System allows you to secure design protection simultaneously in multiple countries or regions through one international application, in one language with one set of fees.
There is no pre-requirement to file a national or regional design application in order to use the Hague System.