Canada joins the Hague Convention

Submitted by UCS on January 18, 2024

Canada officially joined the Hague Convention on January 11, 2024.

How does this affect the legalization of documents for use in Canada?

Documents that are being legalized for use in Canada will now be processed under the same format that each country under the Hague Convention uses for apostilles. Consequently, in the United States, this could result in a reduction of the number of steps required to complete the process, such as the need to present documents to both the County Clerk and Secretary of State offices for processing.

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What is the Hague Convention?

The Hague Service Convention, also known as the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters, is a multilateral treaty that was adopted on 15 November 1965 in The Hague, The Netherlands. It was created by member states of the Hague Conference on Private International Law with the aim of providing litigants with a reliable and efficient method of serving documents to parties residing, operating, or based in another country. The convention specifically applies to the service of process in civil and commercial matters, excluding criminal matters. Additionally, Article 1 of the convention states that it does not apply if the address of the person to be served with the document is unknown.

United Corporate Services is here to help you with the process of obtaining apostilles or legalization of documents for international jurisdictions.  For information regarding our services, contact us at info@unitedcororate.com, chat online with a Client Service Representative or call (800) 899-8648.