The purpose of the Convention is to simplify the authentication of public documents that will be used abroad. The Convention abolished the legalization requirement, which often takes time and is costly, and replaced it with a single Apostille certificate issued by the appointed competent authority in the state where the public documents are executed.   

The Convention will come into force for Indonesia on 4 June 2022. With the accession of Indonesia, the Convention now has 121 contracting parties. To provide some technical guidelines for the implementation of the apostille services in Indonesia, the Minister of Law and Human Rights (MOLHR) issued Regulation No 6 of 2022 on the Service of Apostille Legalization of Public Documents dated 21 January 2022 ("Apostille Regulation").

Starting from 4 June 2022, MOLHR will provide the apostille service to verify public documents that have been made or issued in Indonesia for use in the territory of another contracting state of the Convention. There are no changes in the process of notarization and legalization of the following documents:

1. Documents that are not covered or that are excluded under the Apostille Regulation
2. Documents that are made or issued in Indonesia for use in a non-contracting state
3. Documents that are made or issued in a non-contracting state for use in Indonesia
4. Documents that are issued for use abroad by representatives of foreign countries in Indonesia that are non-contracting states 

Please check the list of the contracting states before starting the process of notarization, legalization or apostillization to understand the appropriate verification process that should be adhered to. These links provide information on the contracting states and the competent authorities in each contracting state.

Apostillization in Indonesia

Apostillization of documents is the act of verifying the signature of an authorized official, or a stamp or seal, by comparing the signature or seal in a given document with the specimen available in the database of the MOLHR. The process does not include verification of the substantial matter of a document. 

In an apostillized public document, parties can assume the authenticity of the signature or seal of the person or authority that signed or sealed the public document and the capacity in which this was done, unless it is proven otherwise.

Indonesia has appointed the Directorate General of the MOLHR as the competent authority under the Convention. Under the Apostille Regulation, the Directorate General of the MOLHR will do the apostillization for documents made or issued in Indonesia that will be used in other contracting states of the Convention. 

Applicants may apply for an apostillization service by making an electronic application in the Dirjen AHU site. Documents for this purpose are defined as written or printed letters of public documents signed by the authorized officer as evidence of information and/or affixed with an official stamp and/or seal ("Documents"). Those documents include: 

1. Documents originating from an authority or officials related to the courts or national tribunals, including those from public prosecutors, court clerks or bailiffs 
2. Administrative documents 
3. Documents issued by a notary 
4. Official certificates attached to a Document that are signed by an individual within the scope of their civil authority, such as certificates that register a Document, or register the validity period of a Document  on a certain date and the verification of the signature of officials and notaries

The apostillization does not apply to:

1. Documents signed by official diplomatic or consular officers
2. Administrative documents directly related with commercial or customs activities
3. Documents issued by an attorney general as a prosecution agency 

A detailed list of the documents mentioned above will be provided in a separate regulation to be issued by the MOLHR.

Notarization, Legalization and Apostillization Post the Issuance of the Apostille Regulation

If before Indonesian accession to the Convention government agencies did not require certain documents to be notarized or legalized, apostillization may not subsequently be required.

We can expect that the MOLHR will issue guidelines on (i) the types of documents that can be apostillized and (ii) which verification process parties should adhere to based on whether or not a document will be issued from, or created or used in, a contracting state. We will provide you with an update after the MOLHR issues the implementing regulation or the guidelines. 

Until the Convention comes into force in Indonesia, i.e., on 4 June 2022, the process of notarization and legalization for documents to be used outside of Indonesia applies.

For public documents executed in a contracting state and that will be used in Indonesia, theoretically, the apostillization process should apply after 4 June 2022. Article 9 of the Convention states that each contracting state must take the necessary steps to prevent the performance of legalization by its diplomatic or consular agents in cases where the Convention provides for exemptions.

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