The Foreign Affairs Ministry has announced that Indonesia will be a contracting party of the Convention of 5th October 1961 abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents effective on 4th June 2022.
According to Foreign Affairs Ministry circular SE/00076/PK/06/2022/64, as stipulated in articles 1 and 2 of the convention, Indonesia will exempt the legalisation requirement for public documents issued by another contracting party of the convention for use in Indonesia.
Furthermore, the Indonesian government has appointed the Directorate of Central Authority and International Law under the Law and Human Rights Ministry as its competent authority.
During the transition period, the office will only issue an Apostille certificate for public documents listed as such:
- Divorce papers
- Death certificates
- Birth certificates
- Marriage certificates
- Court orders
- Halal certificates
- Waqf certificates (an endowment made by a Muslim to a religious, educational, or charitable cause)
- Hibah certificates (gift or donation)
- Academic certificates and awards
- Skills training certificates
- Professional certificates
- Sworn translations
- Notarised documents
- Identity documents
- Driving licences
- Criminal record checks
- Statement letters
- Memoranda of understanding
- Acknowledgement or endorsement of children certificates
- Determination or intangible of cultural heritage certificates
- Approval document for the transfer or cooperation of state-owned overseas assets
Any new or additional documents to be included in the list is yet to be announced, stated the ministry.
The Law and Human Rights Ministry, therefore, stated that the Apostille service simplified the foreign public documents legalisation process for the time being.
When launching the Apostille service in Bali in June 2022, Minister Yasonna H. Laoly said that this service is an official signature ratification, ratification of official stamps and seals in a public document through matching with specimens through one agency, namely the Human Rights Ministry as the competent authority.
“A new era in the legalisation of public documents between countries allows Indonesia to transform from conventional legalisation with a long bureaucratic process to one stage with the issuance of Apostille certificates,” said Laoly on 14th June.
This meets the legalisation requirements of 66 types of public documents that become standards in visa applications, marriage registrations, education and training requirements abroad such as diplomas, transcripts of grades, and other public documents.
“The one-step ease of issuing Apostille certificates can be directly used in 121 states parties to the Apostille Convention and can support the traffic of public documents between countries to be faster,” he continued.
The movement of public documents between countries is related to the need for speed, including business affairs that bring investment. In order to achieve this, the ministry through the Directorate General of General Legal Administration has simplified the process of legalising public documents in order to cut down on procedures related to investment activities which have been considered complicated and lengthy and require a large amount of money to be spent.
“This cutting bureaucratic red tape is expected to contribute to building Indonesia’s reputation as an investment-friendly country and be followed by increasing the confidence of business people to invest.
“Indonesia’s success in acceding to the Apostille Convention is expected to be the first step to review the benefits of other conventions under the auspices of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) as an international organisation that is a melting pot of different legal systems to develop and compile legal instruments in the context of unification and harmonization of international civil law,” he said.
Meanwhile, Director-General of the Directorate General of General Legal Administration Cahyo R. Muzhar explained that some of the documents requested since the launch of the Apostille service were notary documents related to business activities, and educational documents such as diplomas and transcripts, as well as residence documents.
Muzhar’s team has seen high levels of interest from the public in welcoming the convenience of Apostille, The Directorate General of General Legal Administration admits that it will improve the quality of manual Apostille services into electronic services in the future.