The Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (hereinafter referred to as the “Convention”) came into force for China on November 7, 2023. The commercial certificate and certificate of origin issued by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) fall under the categories of documents that may require an Apostille. On the same day, the CCPIT Trade Development and Cooperation Center issued the first commercial certificate that later gained an Apostille across the national trade promotion system.

The Convention is an international treaty with the widest scope of application and the highest number of contracting parties (125 to be exact) within the framework of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It aims to simplify the cross-border circulation of public documents, and its core elements can be summarized in two words: “abolition” and “affixation.” “Abolition” refers to the mutual elimination of consular legalization by embassies and consulates between contracting parties. “Affixation” refers to the affixation of an Apostille to the document to verify the authenticity of the seals and signatures on it. Replacing consular legalization, an Apostille is issued by the competent authorities of the countries that issued the document.

Take the commercial certificate as an example. It is issued by the CCPIT (China Chamber of International Commerce) in accordance with Chinese laws, relevant regulations and international trade practices to certify documents and facts related to international commercial activities. Its legality and effectiveness are accepted by governments, customs, chambers of commerce and enterprises. Before the entry into force of the Convention, some countries required that commercial certificates be authenticated by their embassies and consulates in China, and enterprises applying for such certificates were often faced with uncertain processing time and uncontrollable costs. In the wake of the Convention’s entry into force, the commercial certificate requires no longer the above-mentioned consular legalization but an Apostille issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, which brings great convenience to enterprises.

On November 7, Sinotrans Limited became the first enterprise to have a commercial certificate apostillised. It got the Apostille issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the earliest possible time after it had processed the commercial certificate for a power of attorney issued to the Saudi partner. The company’s handling person said delightedly that previously, it took 18 working days to obtain a consular legalization certificate; this time, processing the Apostille only takes three working days. In addition to saving substantial costs of consular legalization, it also facilitates the certification of the company’s cross-border commercial documents and promotes its cross-border investment and management of overseas organizations.

Yan Yun, Director-General of the CCPIT Trade Development and Cooperation Center, said that CCPIT branches nationwide will give full play to the role of connecting governments and enterprises, domestic and foreign markets, and supply and demand sides, and actively cooperate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the relevant local foreign affairs offices to implement the Convention. Focusing on the issuance of commercial certificates with Apostilles, efforts will be made to continuously standardize and optimize the process of handling certificates, effectively improve the quality of the CCPIT commercial certificates, and bring its certification on a fast track. These aim to ensure that Chinese enterprises can enjoy the immense benefits brought about by the efficient cross-border flow of Apostilles as soon as possible and serve the development of China’s open economy with concrete actions.

Online Application Platform for CCPIT Commercial Certificates:

http://www.rzccpit.com/

Online Application Platform for Hague Certification (Apostille):

https://www.rzccpit.com/attachmentCertIndex.html