China's accession to 1961 Apostille Convention to bring two boons: FM

(ECNS) -- Chinese Ambassador to the Netherlands Tan Jian officially deposited on behalf of China the instrument of accession with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the depository of the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, also known as "1961 Apostille Convention," on March 8. This marks China's official accession to the Convention, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday.

The convention shall enter into force in China in early November, according to Mao.

She noted that 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, she said.

It will significantly reduce time and cost, become easier for Chinese citizens to complete relevant procedures for the use abroad of such documents as health certificate, driver’s license certificate, household registry certificate and certificate of academic degree.

It will only take a few days to get one document ready for use abroad, compared with around 20 days previously. With the cost greatly reduced, it will save Chinese and foreign individuals and businesses more than 300 million yuan every year. The time required to complete relevant procedures between China and other contracting states to the Convention will be slashed by about 90 percent on average.

Mao said the second boon is it will help improve business environment. With China’s accession to the Convention, foreign companies investing in or exporting to China will no longer need to seek consular legalisation for commercial documents. There will be similar benefits for over 70 percent of China’s export-related commercial documents. 

"We look forward to working with all sides for the smooth implementation of the Convention and to further facilitate trade and people-to-people exchange," she said.