Ministry of Foreign Affairs*

Available procedures

PROCEDURA

Companii

Cetateni

National

Legalization of seals and signatures on official documents*

Superlegalization represents a procedure for certifying the authenticity of seals and signatures affixed to an official document by the issuing institution, for the formal recognition of the document by the authorities of another state. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs superlegalizes seals and signatures affixed either by public authorities or other institutions in Romania on Romanian official documents that are to be used abroad, or by Romanian diplomatic missions abroad or by diplomatic missions of other states accredited in our country on foreign documents that are to be used in Romania. The superlegalization procedure has the legal effect of certifying the authenticity of an official document from a formal point of view, by confirming the veracity of the signatures and seals affixed to the official documents, as well as the capacity in which the issuing institutions and their officials acted. The formalities carried out within this procedure are part of a chain of successive operations of superlegalizing official documents issued in one state, which are to be used in another state.

In the case of Romanian official documents that are to be used abroad, superlegalization entails the following operations in the following order:

the internal procedure for approval of the Romanian official document by the issuing institutions, as the case may be, and the competent/central ministry or institution
superlegalization by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
superlegalization by the Romanian diplomatic mission / consular office accredited in the state where the document will be used or, alternatively, by the foreign diplomatic mission / consular office accredited in Romania,
superlegalization by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the foreign state where the document will be used.

In the case of foreign official documents that are to be used in Romania, superlegalization, symmetrically, entails the following subsequent operations in the following order:

the internal procedure for approval of the foreign official document by the competent local authorities,
superlegalization by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the issuing state,
superlegalization by the Romanian diplomatic mission / consular office accredited in the issuing state or, alternatively, by the foreign diplomatic mission / consular office accredited in Romania,
superlegalization by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It is important to underline that superlegalization is only a formality and should not be confused with substantive recognition of official documents. In order for an official document to produce in another state the legal effects determined by its content and intended purpose, it usually must undergo certain special procedures provided by the domestic legislation of the state where it is to be used. By way of example, these may include the judicial procedure for recognition and enforcement of a foreign court decision, the procedure for transcribing a foreign civil status certificate into the national civil registry, or the procedure for the equivalence of foreign study diplomas domestically. As a result, superlegalization does not exempt official documents from fulfilling the necessary procedures for recognition of the substantive legal effects of those documents, but it may constitute a necessary formality for the initiation of such procedures.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs*

Str. Modrogan, nr. 14,Sector 1

Telefon: 0213192138

Fax:

Email: secretar.general@mae.ro

www.mae.ro

Assistance services

There are no Assistance services registered by this institution

Institutional structure

Departamentul Consular