On March 8, 2023, China officially 

acceded to the Convention Abolishing 

the Requirement of Legalisation for 

Foreign Public Documents (hereafter 

referred to as “the Convention”), 

which comes into force in China on 

November 7, 2023. 

2023年3月8日，中国加入《取消外国公文书认证要求的公约》（以下简称《公约》）。《公约》于2023年11月7日在中国生效实施。

The Convention is the most widely 

applicable international treaty with the 

largest number of contracting parties 

within the framework of the Hague 

Conference on Private International 

Law. Its main purpose is to simplify 

procedures for the use of public 

documents abroad. Starting on 

November 7, 2023, to get ready the 

public documents from China for the 

use in other contracting states to the 

Convention only involves the 

completion of apostille as required, 

without applying for the legalisation by 

Chinese competent authorities and the 

embassies or consulates of the countries 

in which the documents are to be used. 

And the procedure is similar for public 

documents from other contracting states 

to be used in the Chinese mainland. 

《公约》是海牙国际私法会议框架下适用范围最广、缔约成员最多的国际条约，旨在简化公文书跨国流转程序。2023年11月7日起，中国送往其他缔约国使用的公文书，仅需办理《公约》规定的附加证明书（Apostille），即可送其他缔约国使用，无需办理中国和缔约国驻华使领馆的领事认证。其他缔约国公文书送中国内地使用，只需办理该国附加证明书，无需办理该国和中国驻当地使领馆的领事认证。

As the main purpose of the Convention 

is to simplify procedures for the use of 

public documents abroad and facilitate 

international trade and people-to-people 

exchange, China’s accession is an 

important step towards greater 

institutional opening up in the use of 

public documents abroad and will be a 

boon in two aspects.

《公约》主要作用在于简化公文书跨国流转程序、便利国际经贸和人员往来。加入《公约》是中方扩大涉外文书流转领域制度型开放的重要举措，将带来两大红利：

To learn more about the procedures and 

requirements for apostille application, 

please refer to the official website of the 

Chinese Consular Service at 

http://cs.mfa.gov.cn 

or the official websites of the competent 

local foreign affairs offices (in Sichuan, 

for example, please refer to 

https://www.scwsb.gov.cn/xwzx/ggl/202310/t20231030_18239.html).

办理附加证明书的具体程序和要求请登录中国领事服务网（http://cs.mfa.gov.cn）或各相关地方外办网站查询。 (四川省：https://www.scwsb.gov.cn/xwzx/ggl/202310/t20231030_18239.html)

The apostille issued by China is in the 

form of a sticker with the silver national 

emblem of China, and is available for 

online verification on 

http://consular.mfa.gov.cn/VERIFY/.

中国附加证明书将使用贴纸形式，加贴银色国徽印鉴。中国外交部以及各相关地方外办签发的附加证明书支持在线核验，具体可登录http://consular.mfa.gov.cn/VERIFY/。

Those living abroad can obtain relevant 

information on the official websites of 

the Chinese embassies or consulates in 

the area they living in. 

居住国外人员可关注中国驻当地使领馆官网查询相关信息。