Victoria Pachotina

Dominican Republic temporarily suspends apostille and consular legalization

The Ministry of International Relations (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores) of the Dominican Republic announced a temporary suspension of apostille and document legalization services, according to the local publication Listin Diario.

France to reform apostille procedure

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.

Pakistani authorities held a ceremony to join the Apostille Convention

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry held a ceremony to mark the Islamic Republic's accession to the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille Convention), Radio Pakistan reported.

Ireland set to reform limited partnership register rules

The Irish government has drafted legislation that will replace the current Limited Liability Partnership Act 1907 and the Registration of Business Names Act 1963 when it comes into force. It will expand the registrar's powers and introduce additional reporting and disclosure requirements, Irish Legal News reports.

Bangladesh has joined the Apostille Convention

The authorities of the People's Republic of Bangladesh officially deposited their instruments of accession to the Convention of 5 October 1961 for the Abolition of the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents, also known as the Apostille Convention, with the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) on July 29, 2024. The official website of the Hague Conference reports this.

Ecuador Prepares to Launch Electronic Apostille for Documents

The Ecuadorian authorities have announced that they are starting to carry out apostille and consular legalization procedures for documents digitally. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of the Republic is handling this issue. The department has distributed the corresponding statement in the media.

Three quarters of jurisdictions studied by FATF do not comply with anti-money laundering requirements in the field of virtual assets

Three-quarters of national jurisdictions surveyed by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) are partially or completely non-compliant with anti-money laundering guidelines for regulating virtual assets. This is stated in the Group's report.

Luxembourg creates special anti-money laundering office

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is creating a special department to combat money laundering. The corresponding decision was made by the country's parliament. This is reported by the Luxembourg Times.

Isle of Man authorities hire firm to digitally verify company beneficiaries

The Isle of Man Central Register has announced it has hired cybersecurity firm SQR to provide “seamless verification” of the identity of beneficial owners of local businesses. This was reported by Global Government Fintech.

Beneficiaries, according to local law, are considered to be persons who control at least 25% of the shares or interests of companies registered in the Isle of Man.

Pakistan Foreign Ministry changes procedure for certifying documents with apostille

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry is making fundamental changes to the apostille system. According to the SAMAA portal, this is being done in order to "fight the agent mafia."

FATF may return UAE to its gray list

The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) may return the United Arab Emirates to the list of jurisdictions subject to enhanced monitoring, also known as the “grey list”. This was reported by Infolibre.

FATF has made major changes to its gray list

The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), at its plenary meeting held in Singapore, made decisions on the status of Monaco, Venezuela, Turkey and Jamaica.

The Supreme Court of an Indian state passed a ruling on free access of citizens to government registers

The Supreme Court of the Indian state of Kerala issued a ruling that declared information contained in government registers public. This was reported by Verdictum.

The EU Anti-Money Laundering Office has opened and is looking for a head

On June 26, 2024, the regulation establishing the EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) officially came into force. Reuters reports this.

AMLA's two main objectives will be EU-wide anti-money laundering supervision and support to national financial intelligence units in European countries.

Finnish authorities have begun mass exclusion of companies from the country's trade register

The Finnish Patent and Registration Office has removed about 1,500 limited liability companies and cooperatives from the country's trade register. This was reported by the Cision News portal.

Schmidt & Schmidt previously reported that about 5,200 Finnish companies could be excluded from the trade register in 2024.

In Ukraine, registers of military personnel, real estate, tax, social services and civil status acts are being integrated

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is creating a unified register that will contain data on all recipients of social assistance, benefits and other social guarantees from the state. At the same time, it will be connected in real time with the register of persons liable for military service “Obereg”, the register of rights to real estate, the register of vehicles, the register of civil status acts and all other registers. According to information from the Judicial-Legal Gazette, the corresponding normative act has already been registered in the Verkhovna Rada.

FATF to remove Turkey from its “grey list” in the coming days

The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) plans to remove Turkey from its “grey list” of jurisdictions subject to enhanced monitoring. Report news agency writes about this with reference to the Turkish publication Hurriyet.

Russia has adopted a law on consular legalization and request for documents

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Federal Law of the Russian Federation “On the legalization of Russian and foreign official documents and on the requisition of personal documents.” A message about this was posted on the official website of the head of state. Previously, the law was adopted by State Duma deputies and approved by the Federation Council of the Russian Federation. One of the fundamental innovations of the law will be the abolition of the ban on the export of certain personal documents of citizens from the country, which has been in force since Soviet times.

Sworn translators in the Netherlands come out to protest

Sworn translators in the Netherlands are demanding higher wages and criticizing the policy of the country's authorities on issues related to official translation.

Lockdown in Russia over Corona pandemic

On April 2, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed Russian citizens in connection with the active spread of coronavirus in the World.

Changes in the procedure apostille stamp in Ukraine

On March 7, 2020, the order of the Ministry of justice of Ukraine No. 702/5 dated February 27, 2020 "On amendments to the procedure for apostille affixing on official documents issued by justice bodies and courts, as well as on documents that are issued by notaries of Ukraine"came into force.