Apostille in Belgium

Apostille/Legalisation General

A. Ordinary legalisation procedure

Documents issued abroad

Save where a dispensation is provided by treaty, documents issued in a foreign country which are to serve in Belgium must be legalised in line with the procedure below:
1. legalisation by the competent authorities in the country in which the document was issued (this usually means the central authorities);
2. then legalisation by the Belgian diplomatic or consular unit in the country in which the document was issued.

N.B. Documents issued in Poland may be legalised by:
1. the Polish Consulate in Brussels;
2. and the Legalisations Service of the federal Public Foreign Affairs Service in Brussels (by virtue of an agreement between Belgium and Poland signed in Warsaw on 11.02.71 MB of 05.02.74).

Documents issued in Belgium which are to be produced abroad

These documents must, in their turn, be legalised by the Legalisations Service of the federal Public Foreign Affairs Service in Brussels and, potentially, by the Ambassador in Belgium of the country in which the documents are to be used (information available from the Embassy of the country concerned).

Documents issued by a Belgian municipal administration must be signed by the registrar (and not by the official delegated). Often this will be the burgomaster or a deputy burgomaster.

Translations of Belgian documents drawn up by a sworn translator in Belgium will be legalised by the president of the court of first instance to which the translator is answerable, and then by the Federal Justice public service, Chaussée de Waterloo, 115, 1000 Brussels.

If on the list of countries below, no reference appears alongside the name of a country, documents coming from that country must be legalised in line with the ordinary legalisation procedure.

Practical information concerning the legalisation service

Address: rue des Petits Carmes 27, 1000 Brussels (near the Porte de Namur)

Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 2.30 p.m.
Tel.: 02/501 89 00
Fax: 02/501 37 90
E-mail: legalisation.ae@diplobel.fed.be

Cost: 10 euro per legalisation.

If you come to the counter in person with the documents, you must immediately pay the sum due.
If you send your documents by mail, you must pay the amount into account n°: 679-2006056-96.
If you are making a transfer from abroad, you must pay the amount into account n°: IBAN BE 65-6792 0060 5696.
Please quote on your transfer form: service légalisation c31.3 plus the name of the person quoted in the deed.

B. The Hague Convention of 5 October 1961

Documents coming from a certain number of countries must, in their country of origin, bear an apostil applied by the competent authorities in that country. Subject to that formality, they are exempted from any other form of legalisation, whether by the Belgian consular or diplomatic posts abroad or by the federal Public Foreign Affairs Service in Brussels.
To have an apostil applied to a document issued in Belgium, contact the Legalisations Service of the federal Public Foreign Affairs Service in Brussels (for practical information, see point A).

The following are considered as public deeds within the meaning of that Hague Convention:
- any document issued by an authority or by an official covered by a jurisdiction of the State, including those coming from the public prosecutor, a clerk of the court or a bailiff;
- administrative documents such as deeds from the public records office;
- notarial deeds;
- official declarations such as references of registration, visas for a set date and certifications of signature, applied to private agreements.

For details of the authorities competent to apply the apostil to foreign documents in other countries, and for the latest updates:
You may consult the internet site of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (address: http://www.hcch.net/ convention n° 12).

In the list of countries below, the countries and the documents in respect of which this procedure applies are marked with an A.

C . Dispensation from legalisation

Belgium has also concluded bilateral agreements with certain countries with a view to removing the need for legalisation. In the list of countries, those countries are marked with an X.

Under the terms of certain of these agreements, a dispensation from legalisation is granted only in certain circumstances, for example in the case of public records office deeds issued to serve administrative purposes or requested in favour of an indigent. The request to this effect must, in addition, come from the competent authority in one country and be addressed to the competent authority in the other country. In the list of countries (below), the countries with which this type of agreement has been concluded are marked with XX.

Where it is a private individual who is asking for the issue of this type of deed in the countries concerned, such a deed will, depending on the circumstances, need to be legalised (XX) or bear an apostil (XX A).

No reference: in the list alongside the name of the country: the ordinary legalisation procedure applies

X : deeds are exempted from the need for legalisation
A : deeds must bear the apostil
XX : deeds are exempted from the need for legalisation if they are requested for administrative purposes or in favour of indigents. In addition, the request must come from the competent authorities in one country and be addressed to the competent authorities in the other country.

If you request such a deed as a private individual, it will need to be legalised (XX) or to bear an apostil (XXA), depending on the particular case