The Hague Convention (Convention de La Haye du 5 Octobre 1961), applies to public documents, which have been executed in the Territory of one contracting State and which have to be produced in the Territory of another contracting State. These public documents include:

  • documents emanating from an authority or an official connected with the courts or tribunals of the State, including those emanating from a public prosecutor, a clerk of a court or a process server (“huissier de justice”);
  • administrative documents;
  • notarial acts; and
  • official certificates which are placed on documents signed by persons in their capacity, such as official certificates recording the registration of a document or the fact that it was in existence on a certain date and official and notarial authentications of signatures.


However, the present Convention shall not apply:

  • to documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents; and
  • to administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations