The apostille service consists in certifying that the signature and the seal of a public document were put by an authority in use of its faculties. The apostille, like the legalization, only certifies that the signature or stamp that shows the document was issued by a public official in the exercise of its functions, but does not certify the validity of its content.

 

For the apostille to be valid, the nation in question must participate in the 1961 Hague Convention. According to the Apostille Agreement or the Apostille Treaty, a document with an apostille is considered legal between the two countries involved, and the apostille is enough to certify the validity of the document. This saves time and money; otherwise, the document would have to be independently verified both in the sending and receiving country.