The Hague Apostille is a type of notarial certification that is used to certify the authenticity of a document’s signature, allowing it to be used outside of its country of origin. It takes the form of a note or stamp.

This certification owes its name to a document agreed upon and signed by various countries called the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents at the 1961 Hague Convention.

To date, these are the countries that have signed the Apostille Treaty.

 

The documents requiring a Hague Apostille are:

• Judicial documents: Documents issued by an authority or official linked to a State jurisdiction, including those issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office or from a clerk, officer or bailiff.
• Administrative documents.
• Official certifications that have been placed on private documents, such as the certification of the registration of a document, the certification of the certainty of a date and official and notarial authentications of signatures on documents of a private nature.

In Spain, you can go to different public bodies, such as the Oficina Central de Atención al Ciudadano of the Ministry of Justice to include the Hague Apostille in a document.

Source: Ministry of Justice