Consular legalization of official documents is a procedure for confirming the validity of the originals of official documents or certifying the authenticity of the signatures of officials authorized to certify signatures on documents, as well as the validity of impressions of stamps and seals used to seal the document. At the same time, the consul is not responsible for the content of the document.
An official document should be understood as a written confirmation of facts and events that have legal significance, or with which the current legislation connects the emergence, change or termination of the rights and obligations of individuals or legal entities.
Consular legalization is carried out by an authorized employee of the Consular Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Representations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the territory of Ukraine or a consular official of a foreign diplomatic institution of Ukraine.
The procedure for consular legalization of official documents is established by the Vienna Convention "On Consular Relations" of 1963, international treaties and the current legislation of Ukraine, as well as the Instruction on the procedure for consular legalization of official documents in Ukraine and abroad, approved by the order of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine dated 04.06.2002 No. 113 (hereinafter referred to as the Instructions).
Clause 4.2 of the Instructions provides for a number of documents that the Department of the Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine accepts for consular legalization, namely:
- • originals of diplomas on higher and secondary special education of an international standard, transcripts from credit information, diplomas of the Higher Attestation Commission of Ukraine undergo the legalization procedure directly at the Department of the Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine when they are submitted by a representative of the educational institution that issued the document, and in the presence of a letter of reference from the educational institution of an institution certified by the ministry, another central body of executive power, to the sphere of management of which the educational institution belongs. In this case, the inscription "This document is legalized in the Department of the Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine" is made;
- • archival certificates issued by archival divisions of the State Archives Committee of Ukraine and departmental archives are sent to the Department of the Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in response to requests from foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine or diplomatic missions of foreign countries in Ukraine and are legalized. On such documents, the inscription "This document is legalized in the Department of the Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine" is made;
- • originals: certificates of civil status registration; certificate of civil status registration authorities;
- • other official documents after notarization of their copies and registration by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
The final stage will be the consular legalization of the document at the embassy or consulate of the country where the document is to be presented.
Legalization of a document in the prescribed manner gives it the right to exist in international circulation.