Hague Convention

A treaty signed by certain countries which simplifies the process of authenticating local documents for use in other countries. The state of incorporation can apostille certain documents directly without filing the documents with the national government. Non-signatory countries must authenticate through the U.S. Department of State and their local consulate in the United States. However, sometimes non-signatory countries accept the apostilled documents, even though they did not sign the treaty. This is sometimes the case in China, where most providences did not sign the Hague Convention, but may accept the apostilled documents, which can be obtained more quickly and cheaply than “legalized” documents.