Consular Legalization

Consular Legalization refers to the activity by which a country's embassy or consulate abroad confirms the authenticity of the last signature or seal on a document issued by a notary or authentication agency of its own or a foreign country. Its purpose is to enable documents issued by one country to be recognized by the relevant authorities of another country, so that doubts about the authenticity of signatures or seals on the document do not affect its extraterritorial legal effect. In foreign trade practice, consular legalization is often used for commercial invoices, certificates of origin, packing lists, bills of lading, contracts, and other export documents so that they can be accepted by the importing country's customs or banks. Use scenarios include: the importing country requires documents to be legalized by its embassy or consulate in the exporting country; letter of credit terms stipulate 'consular legalization required.' Notes: the legalization cycle is long and the cost is high, and not all countries require it; notarization and authentication by the foreign affairs office must be completed first, and then the documents are sent to the embassy or consulate. Differences from 'Notarization' and 'Embassy Legalization': notarization is completed by a notary office; embassy legalization may refer to consular legalization, but in a broad sense it includes Apostille. Since the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents came into effect, Apostille can replace consular legalization among member states, but non-member states still require consular legalization.