Apostille Croatia 🇭🇷

Apostille Stamp Croatia, Zagreb

What is Croatian apostille?

Croatian apostille(Apostille Croatia) – is a stamp, the form, content and purpose of which are determined by the Apostille Convention of 1961.

The process of legalization of documents by apostille  is a simplified process of document authentication, which is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the above-mentioned Apostille Convention of 1961 and can  be carried out only in relation to those countries&nbsp ; , which, like the Republic of Croatia, are members of the said Convention.

Apostille in Croatia is no different from the international apostille standard. However, the Croatian apostille contains information in the official Croatian language.

Croatia has joined the Hague Apostille Convention  October 08, 1991. The Apostillebecame effective from April 23, 1993. This means that documents received before April 1993 cannot be apostilled. Such documents must be converted to new documents.

What does a Croatian Apostille look like?

Photo of Croatian apostille:

Apostille certification is carried out by typing (printing or printing) or affixing a stamp on a self-adhesive paper document equipped with security features.

Text of apostille from Croatia

Croatian language

(Convention de La Haye du 5 October 1961)

1. Earth: REPUBLIKA HRVATSKA

Potvrđujem da je ovu javnu ispravu

2. Potpisao-la ___________________________

3. U svojstvu ovlaštenog službenika Općinskog suda u ________________

4. Opskrbljen pečatom, žigom službenim pečatom tvrdi ________________

tvrdi

5. u __________________

6. dana __________________

7. naziv organa vlasti ________________

8. pod br. ____________________

9. Pečat (žig)

10. Potpis

Translation of Croatian Apostille into Russian

(Hague Convention of October 5, 1961)

1. Country: Croatian RepublicPublic

I certify that this is a public document

2. Signed _______________

3. As an authorized officer of the municipal court in ________

4. Seal certified by the official seal declared by _________

Stamped / Printed / Certified

5. in ______

6. Date ______

7. Name of organ ____

8. No. ________

9. Stamp

10. Signature

(note BUSINESS LAWYERS SRL: Seal of the authority authorized to certify apostilles)

Application for apostille in Croatia

Apostille procedure in Croatia

When notarizing signatures (powers of attorney, copies, etc.), certification of the issued document by the competent authority of the Republic of Croatia (registry offices, higher education institutions, etc.) or translation certified by a court translator , such documents must be legalized with an apostille stamp by the local competent municipal court in Croatia, where the signature of the official/authorized person authenticating the document with the official signature and seal is kept

Documents bearing the Apostille stamp can be used in any country party to the 1961 Hague Convention without any additional authentication requirements.

All of the above authentications must be requested from each competent authority by proxy or in person.

Procedure for legalization of documents subject to  Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2016 on promoting the free movement of citizens by simplifying the requirements for the presentation of certain official documents in the European Union and amending the Regulation (EU) ) No. 1024/2012  – only for EU Member States.

The Republic of Croatia applies Regulation on official documents for the following documents:

  • birth certificate
  • death certificate
  • marriage certificate
  • single status certificate
  • life partnership certificate
  • certificate of domicile/residence
  • certificate of no criminal record (certificate of no criminal record)

The documents are issued by the competent authorities and do not require further legalization in the Croatian municipal court for the purpose of their use in the EU, for example, there is no need to have a civil registration document certified by the municipal court.
< br>Note:  The Decree does not apply to copies (extracts) from civil registries that are subject to legalization (for example, the difference between a copy from a civil registry and a birth certificate).
 
Under the Regulation, you may request from the authority issuing any of the above-mentioned documents a multilingual standard form in the language of the Member State in which you intend to use the document, in order to avoid translation requirements.

Where to put an apostille in Croatia

  • municipal courts
  • Ministry of Justice and Public Administration

Why do you need an apostille if Do documents from Croatia already have the stamp and signature of an official?

The fact is that there are many officials working in ministries and departments, government bodies, archives and registry offices of Croatia.

Officials change periodically. Which means there are a lot of signaturesand they change too. To ensure the originality and truthfulness of the document, and to avoid forgeries, you need to check whether the official’s signature matches the samples of his signature. And did he sign this document.

With so many documents and so many officials, it is very difficult to do this. This is especially difficult for those officials who accept your documents abroad.

That is why a system of confirming all signatures and seals by several persons arose – to facilitate the work of foreign officials. This also reduces processing times abroad as well as waiting times for applicants. In such a system, it is easier for local officials responsible for Apostille to check signatures, seals, and the documents themselves (their forms and contents).

Employees who have access to the internal database of signatures, seals and sample documents also end up in a special register with their signatures. But this register is limited to a dozen signatures, samples of which are transferred to other partner countries or are easily verified by them in other ways.

There are two proceduresfor such confirmation. The first procedure – the most reliable – is the legalization of documents. When the documents are signed by the issuing official, then the document is certified by an employee of the ministry (usually the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), then the last signature is checked and certified by the consulate of the country where the documents need to be submitted. Verification is carried out on the basis of the current database (list) of signatures – along a chain of three departments (institutions, government bodies). 

Second procedure  is based on greater trust and bypasses one department, usually the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this case we are talking about an apostille. Apostille is a special stamp of a standard form that greatly simplifies the procedure for recognizing documents from one state on the territory of another.

Why put an apostille if Croatian documents can be checked online?< /h2>

Online document verification systems – a new solution for checking the authenticity of documents. We can say that such systems are still in test mode. And their work should be improved.

When governments and society are ready for such a document verification system, most likely there will be no need for an apostille.

However, quite a lot of officials will have access to such a system. And this again raises the question of the large number of signatures and their relevance.

Is it possible to get an apostille at the Croatian consulate?

According to the Hague Apostille Convention, the Apostille stamp for Croatian documents cannot be obtained from the Croatian Consulate. And this does not depend on the country where the consulate is located, be it Ukraine, Italy, Germany, Moldova, and so on.

Is there an electronic apostille in Croatia – E-apostille?

Electronic apostille allows you to certify birth certificates, educational documents (certificate of school completion, diploma of education), birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, medical certificates, court orders and other documents for use abroad.

The Electronic Apostille Registry was developed to combat fraud and abuse. Using the electronic apostille register, any interested person can check the apostille of a document visually and the scanned document.

How can I check an electronic apostille?

The apostille is checked by the apostille number and the date of issue (the apostille has a 15-digit unique number (in line number 8) and the date of issue (in line number 6)). This information must be entered into the appropriate fields on the web page. When you press the search key, a window opens in which you can see the Apostille and Aposstyled document.

List of countries that require an apostille for documents from Croatia 

  • Albania
  • Andora
  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Argentina
  • Armenia
  • Australia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bahamian
  • Bahrain
  • Barbados
  • Belgium
  • Belize
  • Belarus
  • Botswana
  • Bolivia
  • Brazil
  • Brunei Darussalam
  • Burundi
  • Cyprus
  • Chile
  • Danish
  • Dominica
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • Savior
  • Estonia
  • Fiji
  • Philippines
  • Finnish
  • Greece
  • Grenada
  • Georgia
  • Guatemala
  • Gwajana
  • Honduras
  • Hong Kong
  • Croatia
  • India
  • Indonesia 
  • Ireland
  • Island
  • Italy
  • Israel
  • Jamaican
  • Japan
  • South Africa
  • Cape Verde
  • KAZAKHSTAN
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Colombia
  • Korea
  • Kosovo
  • Costa Rica
  • Fashionable Islands
  • Latvia
  • Lesotho
  • Liberia
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Residence
  • Malawi
  • Malta
  • Morocco
  • Marshall Islands
  • Mauritius
  • Mexico
  • Moldova
  • Monaco
  • Mongolia
  • Namibia
  • Nicaraguan
  • Niue
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • New Zealand
  • Germany
  • Oman
  • Palau
  • Panama
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Portugal
  • Samoa
  • San Marino
  • Saudi Arabia – from December 7, 2022
  • Seychelles
  • Singapore 
  • United States of America
  • Slovakia
  • Suriname
  • Swazi
  • Saint Kitts and Nevis
  • St. Lucia
  • Saint Thomas and the Prince
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Tajikistan
  • Tonga
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Tunisia
  • Türkiye
  • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  • Ukraine
  • Uruguay
  • Uzbekistan
  • Vanuatu
  • Venezuela 

List of countries that do not require legalization, apostille or notarization of documents from Croatia 

You will not need legalization or notarization of documents for countries with which the Republic of Croatia has signed bilateral agreements on international legal assistance, namely:

  • Austria
  • Belgium *
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Bulgaria
  • Montenegro
  • Czech Republic
  • France
  • Greece **
  • Italy ***
  • Hungary
  • North Macedonia
  • Poland
  • Romania
  • Slovenia
  • Slovakia ****
  • Serbia
  • Russian Federation
  • Türkiye *****

* in accordance with Article 10 of the Agreement on legal assistance in civil and commercial matters between the SFRY and the Kingdom of Belgium, Belgrade, September 24, 1971 (“Narodne novine” – International Agreements, No. 11/97 – text of the Agreement published in the Official Gazette of the SFRY
– International Treaties No. 7/74 of July 1, 1974) provides for an exemption for specific documents as follows:
“Article 10.
In the order of execution , issued or certified by the courts of one of the two countries for use in legal proceedings in the territory of the other state, they do not need to be legalized or subject to any similar formalities if they are certified by the seal of the court. This also applies to files or documents signed by an authorized person by a court official, if his signature is sufficient in accordance with the lawthe jurisdiction of the country to which the court belongs.” a in Article 1 of the Convention on the issuance of extracts from registers and exemption from legalization of September 24, 1971 (“Narodne novine” – International Treaties, No. 11/97 – text of the Convention published in the Official Gazette of the SFRY – No. 55/1972) it is indicated that exemption from further trust management applies to: extracts from the civil register, documents on registration of a stillborn child, documents on voluntary recognition or court decisions establishing illegitimate paternity, extracts from acts civil status, extracts from civil status acts, documents or decisions on civil status: – separation, adoption, legalization by adoption, etc.
 
** in accordance with the provisions of Article 29 of the Convention between the FPRY and the Kingdom of Greece on mutual legal relations, Athens, June 18, 1959 (“Narodne novine” – International Treaties, No. 4/96 – text of the Convention published in the Official Gazette of FNRJ – Appendix: International Treaties and Other Agreements, No. 7/60), term a public document is defined more narrowly, that is, it refers only to documents drawn up and issued by “judicial authorities” as well as “administrative authorities”.
 
*** in accordance with Articles 19, 20 and 21 of the Convention between the FNL and the Italian Republic on mutual legal assistance in civil and administrative matters of December 3, 1960 (- text of the Convention published in the Official Journal of the FNRJ – Addendum, No. 5/63 – general succession) only  certain documents are exempt from legalization ;

Everything you need to know about apostilles

Apostille is a confirmation of a document that confirms its authenticity and validity in international law.

Many countries require an apostille for documents issued in other countries to ensure their authenticity and legality.

Apostille guarantees recognition of such a document abroad without the need for additional certification.

Each municipal court in the Republic of Croatia certifies with an apostille documents issued by an authority located in the territory of this court.

Apostille processing may take several days, and in some courts it can be obtained on the second day or even on the same day.

The format of an apostille varies from country to country, but usually contains the following elements:

Name of the issuing country
Name of the issuing authority
Apostille number
Date of issue
Signature of the authorized person or stamp of the issuing authority
Mark or seal of the issuing authority
Apostille is usually placed on the original document, that is, a copy certified as genuine and genuine.

It is important to note that an apostille cannot be obtained in the following situations:

If this is not an original document, it, unfortunately, cannot be copied.
If it is not signed.
If the document is, for example, from Rijeka, and you are going to affix an apostille in Zagreb.
If it is a translation that you are putting on an apostille, made by a court translator who is registered, for example, in Rijeka, you can only obtain it at the Municipal Court of Rijeka, you cannot obtain it in Zagreb.
It is important to note that an apostille in itself is not proof of authenticity document, but only confirms the identity and authority of the person who issued or signed the document.

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In accordance with the Law on Court Fees “NN”, no. 118/2018. and the amount determined by the Tariff of court fees, “Official Gazette” No.: 53/2019, Tar. No. 8., and in accordance with the Resolution on amendments to the Resolution on the issuance, withdrawal from circulation and replacement of state seals “NN” 140/22, a court fee (state seals) must be attached to the application.