Apostille and consular legalization from the Cook Islands

Schmidt & Schmidt offers the legalization of documents from the Cook Islands by apostille.

The Cook Islands joined the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents in 2005. Therefore, no diplomatic authentication or consular legalization of documents from the Cook Islands is needed for successful legal communication with other member states of the Convention. The documents only need to be attested by an apostille certificate with an "apostille" stamp on it by the issuing state's authorities in order to be valid in the state of destination. The apostille is a stamp of rectangular shape. It should be filled in in the official language of the issuing authority. The heading "Apostille (Convention de la Haye du 5 octobre 1961)" written in French is a necessary requirement for the apostille's validity.

Responsible for issuing the apostille are the following institutions:

• Ministry of Justice
• Ministry of Immigration and Foreign Affairs
• Ministry of National Security

Public documents drawn up in English or the Cook Islands Māori and issued by the official authorities and other authorised persons and organizations of the Cook Islands can be apostillized. Legalizing public documents on the Cook Islands implies authenticating the origin of the document and the authority of the officials who have affixed the signature, seal or stamp on the document. After such verification, a special stamp - the apostille - is affixed to the public document or its certified copy. The apostille is usually placed on the back of the underlying public document or on a separate attached page.

The following documents can be authenticated by apostille:

• Certificates of civil status (certificates of birth, death, marriage and divorce)
• Education documents (school reports, certificates, diplomas)
• Trade register excerpts
• Court decisions
• Notarized copies of documents
• Certified translations
• Further notarial documents (authorizations, last will, declarations)
• Commercial documents legalized by a state registration body (articles of incorporation, registration certificates, tax registrations etc.)

Requirements for the documents:

The apostille can be exclusively issued for the original document. Therefore, the underlying document must be presented in good condition, with all stamps and signatures clear and readable. Furthermore, it should not contain alien markings or labels.

Additional services

In addition to the legalization of your public documents, we can provide you with high-quality translations. Should you require company information for use in court, it needs to be legalized as well. We can therefore provide you with extracts from the commercial register of the Cook Islands including the apostille certification and translation into the language of the document's state of destination. On average, processing the documents takes up to 14 days.