Schmidt & Schmidt offers the legalization of documents from the Netherlands by apostille.
The Netherlands acceeded to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents in 1965. Therefore, no diplomatic authentication or consular legalization of public documents from the Netherlands is required for successful legal communication with another member state 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 in the Netherlands are the courts. Irrespective of the place of issuance, any regional court can attest a Dutch public document with an apostille certificate. Regional courts keep a register of all issued apostilles; in case the issued apostille needs to be verified, a secretary's office of the regional court that had issues the apostille is to be contacted.
Documents drawn up in Dutch, German, French and English can be apostilled in the Netherlands without translation. For other documents, a notarized translation is required.
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
- Notarially certified copies of documents
- Notarially 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 latter 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 are therefore offering extracts from the commercial register of the Netherlands including apostillization and translation.
On average, processing the documents takes 14 days.
Courier services are charged and invoiced separately according to the courier service’s rates.
You can pay for our services by PayPal, bank transfer or credit card.
| Service | Price incl. German VAT 19% | Price excl. VAT |
|---|---|---|
| Price for an apostille for a document from the Netherlands without international shipping | from 166,60 € | from 140,00 € |
