How we check facts | Apostille Atlas

Where facts come from

The Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), which runs the Apostille Convention: its list of member countries, its list of offices that issue apostilles, and the Convention text.
The website of the office that issues apostilles in a country.
Government websites, for example a foreign ministry.
The law itself.

We never use companies that sell apostille services, blogs or forums as a source. We write everything in our own words.

Two levels of information

Each country page has two levels.

The basics: whether the country uses apostilles, since when, how it joined, and a link to its list of offices that issue them. These come straight from the HCCH member list and are shown at once. We compare our copy with the HCCH list regularly and update it when something changes.
The details: the offices by name, fees, processing times and the steps to follow. A researcher collects them from the office's own website, and a person on our team checks every value against its source before it is shown. Until then the page says "Not yet checked by our team".

How a fact is recorded

Each fact is stored with a link to its source and the date it was checked. On the page, a small number after a fact links to that source in the list at the bottom of the page.

Safety checks

The site is built by a program that refuses to publish a page if a fact has no source, if a fact changed after it was checked, or if two sources disagree. When two sources disagree, we hold the detail back until a person has checked the office's own publication. We never average two values or pick one at random.

Reviews and dates

Every page shows when it was last checked. Each country is due for a new check after 90 days. A page that is far overdue is taken down until it has been checked again.

Fees and processing times

Fees are shown exactly as the office publishes them: a fixed amount, a range, or no fee. A processing time is shown only when the office publishes one. Otherwise the page says "Not published by the office" and the date we looked.

Each type of data, and how often it is checked

Where each kind of fact comes from and how often it is checked again
Data	Source	Checked again
Membership, dates, how a country joined	HCCH status table of the Apostille Convention	Compared automatically; any difference stops publication until a person checks it
List of issuing offices	HCCH page of designated offices for each country	With the status table
Offices by name, fees, processing times, steps, documents	The issuing office's own website, or HCCH or government pages	Every 90 days, by a person
What applies in countries outside the Convention	Foreign ministries and embassies of that country	Every 90 days, by a person
Fees in euros	European Central Bank euro reference rates, with the rate date shown	Each time the site is rebuilt
News	Generated from changes in the HCCH status table	Each time the status table changes

Numbers on the site

Every number, such as how many countries use apostilles, is calculated from our data each time the site is built. No number is typed by hand.

Found an error?

Every page has a link to report an error. Important corrections are listed on the corrections page.