The authority to certify documents with an apostille will be transferred from the courts of appeal to the notary chambers from January 1, 2025. This was reported by La Gazette Du Midi, citing the head of the Toulouse Notary Chamber, Hubert Letignier.
In France, 34 regional courts of appeal currently certify documents with an apostille. However, the courts can only certify documents issued on their territory. Documents issued by federal authorities are certified by the Paris Court of Appeal.
The gradual reform of the document legalization sphere was launched back in 2020. It was decided that the central role in the apostille process would be transferred to notaries. According to the republic's authorities, this decision should simplify the document legalization procedure and make it more modern. The transfer of powers was planned for September 2023, but it was postponed for organizational reasons.
From January 1, 2025, 15 notary chambers will become officially authorized bodies for apostilling documents.
According to Letinier, about 400,000 documents are apostilled in France every year. In order to take on such a volume of work, notary chambers are currently addressing issues with recruiting and placing additional staff.
"Our goal is to carry out this mission in the best possible way and for requests to be processed very quickly... We are going to be useful to many French people," Letinier said.
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