NEW DEVICE!

From May 1, 2025 for apostilles and September 1, 2025 for legalizations, the French notary’s office will be responsible for authenticating public documents intended for use abroad.

15 bodies (interdepartmental chambers or regional councils of the courts of Angers, Aix-en-Provence, Bastia, Besançon, Bordeaux, Colmar – Metz, Douai, Fort-de-France, Lyon, Montpellier, Paris, Rennes, Rouen, Saint-Denis, Toulouse) are involved in implementing the notariat’s new jurisdiction.

A one-stop shop will complement the digital portal for the general public.

So how do we go about it?

Applicants submit their apostille or legalization request online via a public portal, or by going directly to the counter of one of the authorities concerned. Management is done digitally. The notaries mobilized by the authorities use the application to verify signatures and issue the necessary formalities. They refer to the database of public signatures, which enables them to authenticate documents after comparing seals and signatures. Once the documents have been verified, the notaries issue the “e-apostilles” or “e-legalisations”. The documents are then available on the dedicated portal. A register keeps track of the e-apostilles and e-legalisations issued, enabling them to be verified by the recipient states.

Source: NVP n°371, April 2025.