“Okaz” learned that the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia issued a circular to all banks and banks regarding approving the “apostille” authentication of foreign public documents without the need to request the authentication of the document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the concerned diplomatic and consular missions.
A circular issued by the Deputy Governor for Oversight, Yazid Al-Sheikh, referred to the decree approving Saudi Arabia’s accession to the Hague Convention regarding the abolition of the mandatory attestation of foreign public documents “Apostille”, and to the letter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs containing a request to accept the “Apostille” certificate as an approved certification of documents without the need to request authentication. The document is issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in addition to defining the mechanism for verifying the authenticity of the certificate, in line with the objectives of the agreement, by replacing the traditional authentication process by shortening the procedures used in document authentication to be a unified procedure through the issuance of an “Apostille” certificate.
The Central Bank assured all banks and banks that there is no need for the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the concerned embassies on documents issued from abroad that bear the “Apostille” certificate, provided that they meet the formal requirements contained in the agreement, and the authenticity of the certificate can be self-checked through any of the available means, including the response code. QR code or the contact addresses on the Apostille certificate or the website of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.
And the Kingdom joined the Hague Convention regarding the abolition of the mandatory attestation of foreign public documents apostille, and the Saudi ambassador to the Netherlands deposited the Kingdom’s instrument of accession to the agreement with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its capacity as the depository, and the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted in its official account that the purpose of the agreement is to develop an internationally recognized method for documenting The original public documents issued by the States Parties to the Convention, and alleviating the administrative and financial burdens resulting from the authentication of documents. The Kingdom's accession to this agreement comes within the framework of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 in terms of improving the business environment for institutions and individuals.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Apostille Convention is one of the Hague Conference agreements and includes more than 120 state parties and has become one of the most widely applied multilateral treaties in the field of legal cooperation, as several million Apostille ratifications are issued every year.
Adnan Shabrawi (Jeddah) @Adnanshabrawi
