The public service for issuing the apostille for official administrative documents is provided by the prefect institutions, in accordance with the provisions of Government Ordinance no. 66 of August 24, 1999, for Romania’s accession to the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, adopted at The Hague on October 5, 1961, with subsequent amendments and completions, ratified by Law no. 52 of April 19, 2000. The Prefect Institutions apostille the original official administrative documents, in the format in which they were issued (the apostille is issued in paper form for documents issued in paper form and signed by hand, and in digital format for documents issued electronically and digitally signed). The apostilling of documents is carried out at the headquarters of the competent prefect institution—according to the criteria displayed at the headquarters of the prefect institutions, as well as on their Internet websites. Documents issued electronically and digitally signed can also be apostilled online, through the MAI-level Service HUB, available at: https://hub.mai.gov.ro/ (a public service managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs). Coordination of the apostille issuance activity is carried out at the level of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, by the General Directorate for Relations with Prefect Institutions. About the apostille The apostille is a document issued for an official document—or a stamp applied to the official document, in order to have it recognized in states party to the “Apostille Convention” (the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, adopted at The Hague on October 5, 1961); the updated list of signatory states can be found at the following link: https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/?cid=41. Furthermore, if the official document is to be presented in a state that has not joined the Apostille Convention, and there is no convention, treaty, or agreement between Romania and that state for the recognition of that type of document, it is necessary to complete the legalization procedure; this process is carried out through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (additional information can be found at the following link on the MFA's website: https://www.mae.ro/node/6869). In Romania, there are three authorities that issue apostilles, according to their area of competence, namely: Courts, Chambers of Public Notaries, Prefect Institutions. For information regarding the apostille of documents by the Courts or Chambers of Public Notaries, please contact those authorities.*