On 2 December 2015, Brazil deposited its instrument of
accession to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961
Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign
Public Documents (the "Apostille Convention"). On 29
January 2016, the text of the Convention was
internalized in Brazil by the Decree No. 8660, and its
implementation has been regulated by the Resolution nº
228/2016, issued by the National Council of Justice.
According to the provisions of the Convention, the
instrument will take effect in Brazil as of 14 August
2016.
2. Brazil's accession to the Apostille Convention will
entail great simplification in the authentication of
Brazilian documents intended to take effect abroad and
of foreign documents to take effect in Brazil,
providing noticeable reduction in time processing and
costs born by individuals and companies, as well as
enable a more efficient use of public resources
currently employed in the legalisation of documents in
Brazil and abroad.
3. Currently, the authentication of Brazilian
documents to take effect abroad is subject to a
cumbersome multi-step process ("legalisation chain"),
which requires the documents to be legalised by
various government authorities, and as the last stage
by the diplomatic or consular mission of the country
where the document is to take effect. Likewise, a
foreign document to take effect in Brazil must be
previously legalised by the Brazilian diplomatic or
consular mission that holds consular jurisdiction over
the country where it has been issued.
4. According to the process established by the
Apostille Convention, Brazilian documents certified by
an Apostille shall take effect in all States Parties
to the Convention. Similarly, foreign documents with
Apostilles issued by one of the States Parties to the
Convention shall take effect in Brazil, abolishing the
requirement for the legalisation by the Brazilian
Consular Service.
5. In view of the interest of the Brazilian Government
that the service for issuing apostilles be provided in
the most convenient and efficient manner to the
applicants, the Brazilian network of notaries and
registries have been designated competent authorities
to issue the Apostille certificate. Notaries and
registries in Brazil are widely spread throughout the
Brazilian territory, already have expertise in the
authentication of signatures and are electronically
integrated. The Brazilian Judicial authorities will
also be competent to issue apostilles regarding
judicial documents.
6. The Brazilian judiciary has developed a system for
the processing of apostilles ("SEI Apostila") to be
used by the competent authorities throughout Brazil.
The Brazilian system is endowed with a high level of
security and is prepared for the future implementation
of totally electronic apostille ("e-Apostille").
7. The authenticity of the Brazilian apostilles can be
verified by scanning a QR code or entering the
alphanumeric code displayed on the Apostille on the
webpage of the National Council of Justice:
Source : https://www.hcch.net/en/news-archive/de … revent=446