Words explained

Words explainedApostille words in plain English.

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Accession: The way most countries join the Apostille Convention today: by depositing a document of accession, without having signed it earlier.
Apostille: A certificate that confirms where a public document comes from: who signed it, in what role, and whose seal or stamp is on it. It does not confirm what the document says.
Apostille Convention: The international treaty of 5 October 1961 that replaced legalisation with a single certificate, the apostille, for public documents used between member countries.
Apostille register (e-Register): The record each issuing office keeps of the apostilles it issues. Where it is online, anyone who receives an apostille can check that it is genuine.

Competent authority: The office a country has chosen to issue apostilles. It can be a ministry, a court, a regional office or, in some countries, a notary.
Contracting party (member country): A country that has joined the Apostille Convention. Apostilles only work between countries that are both members and for which the Convention is in force.

e-Apostille: An apostille issued in electronic form and signed with a digital signature, instead of on paper.
Entry into force: The date from which the Convention applies for a country. Before that date, its documents still need the older process.

Legalisation: The older process the apostille replaces: a chain of stamps, usually from the foreign ministry and then the embassy of the country where the document will be used.

Notarial act: A document made or certified by a notary public, for example a certificate confirming that a person signed in front of the notary. Notarial acts count as public documents.

Objection to an accession: A member country's statement that it does not accept a new member. The Convention then does not apply between those two countries.

Private document: A document written or signed by a person or a company rather than an authority, such as a contract or a power of attorney. It needs a notary or another certificate before it can get an apostille.
Public document: A document that comes from an authority: court papers, documents from a government office, notarial acts and certificates an authority puts on a private document. Only these can get an apostille.

Ratification: The way a country that signed the Convention confirms it is bound by it, by depositing a document of ratification.