Aiming for a more prompt notarization system, Brazil has joined as one of the signatory countries of the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (“Convention”).

The Convention was approved by the National Congress on July 06, 2015, enacted on January 29, 2016 by the Decree No. 8,660, and will enter into force on August 14, 2016.

The purpose of the Convention is to simplify the international circulation of public documents between Brazil and the other countries that already apply such rules, as it will eliminate the need of the consular legalization process, which will be replaced by the issuance of the “Apostille”.

The Apostille is a simplified verification method of the authenticity of documents in an international level which aims to facilitate the commercial and legal transactions. It unifies, in a single certificate, all the information required in order to validate a public document issued in one of the Convention’s signatory countries. In general terms, the Apostille certifies the signature, the position or title of the document’s signatory and, if applicable, the authenticity of the seal or stamp affixed to the document. The signature, seal or stamp contained in the Apostille shall be exempted of the necessity of any certification.

On June 22, 2016, the National Justice Council (“CNJ”) issued the Resolution No. 228/2016, regulating the abovementioned process of Apostille, which will be issued on an electronic format by the Brazilian justice system or by an extrajudicial notarial entity. The Resolution No. 228/2016 also determines that all foreign documents legalized by a Brazilian Embassy on any of the signatory countries before August 14, 2016 shall be commonly accepted until February 14, 2017.

AUTHORS:

Luiz Augusto Osorio – losorio@cmalaw.com