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All documents executed in South Africa for use outside of South Africa must be authenticated as properly executed in order for them to be relied on in court and by most authorities.

The country in which the documents will be used will determine the process to be followed for the authentication of the documents.

If the country is party to the Hague Convention, the following process should be followed:

  1. The documents must be executed in the presence of a notary (in the case of notarially certified copies, the original documents must be presented to the notary). The notary will affix a notarial certificate of authentication to the documents which must bear the notary’s signature, stamp and seal.
  2. The documents must then be sent by the notary to the high court of South Africa, in the area in which the notary practices. The registrar of the high court will then sign an apostille certificate authenticating the notary’s signature.

Here is a list of all countries who are party to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961.

If the country is not party to the Hague Convention the following process should be followed:

  1. The documents must be executed in the presence of a notary (in the case of notarially certified copies, the original documents must be presented to the notary). The notary will affix a notarial certificate of authentication to the documents which must bear the notary’s signature, stamp and seal.
  2. The documents must then be sent by the notary to the high court of South Africa in the area in which the notary practices. The registrar of the high court will then attach a certificate of authentication of the notary’s signature.
  3. Thereafter, the authenticated documents are sent to the legalisation section at the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (DIRCO) where the signature of the registrar of the high court will be authenticated by the Director-General of Foreign Affairs.

Finally, the documents are sent by the notary to the local embassy or consulate of the country in which they will be used for authentication.

Once the above processes have been followed, the documents are ready to be used outside South Africa.

It should however be noted that some countries are more lenient and do not require the above authentication process to be followed and may only require the documents to be executed in the presence of a notary who will affix their signature, stamp and seal to the documents. This will however depend on the nature and purpose for which the documents will be used in that country and must be determined on a case by case basis.