Apostille Convention now in effect in China

Summary

• Public documents that have an apostille certificate issued by a competent authority in the countries that are part of the Apostille Convention will be accepted by Chinese courts without the need for legalization.
• Private documents, such as powers of attorney from individuals or companies, still need to be notarized to become public documents. The apostille authority will verify the notary's credentials, and then the document can be used in the destination country.
• Chinese diplomatic missions in the countries that are part of the Apostille Convention will no longer provide legalization services for public documents.

On 7 November 2023, the Apostille Convention officially came into force on the China Mainland, providing significant changes for foreign entities filing in China.