“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 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 authentication of documents without the need. To demand the authentication of the document by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in addition to defining the mechanism for verifying the validity 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 stressed that all banks and banks do not need the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the relevant embassies for documents issued from abroad that bear the “Apostille” certificate, provided that they meet the formal requirements contained in the agreement, and the validity of the certificate can be self-verified through any of the available means. Including the quick response (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 a recognized method It is used internationally to authenticate the origin of public documents issued by the States Parties to the Convention, and to reduce 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 Agreement is one of the agreements of the Hague Conference 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
