DISCLAIMER
The information contained in this Legal Headline is not intended to provide legal opinion or views of the Anggraeni and Partners law offices against a particular legal issue.
Neither party may assume that he or she should act or cease to act or choose to act on a particular matter based on this information without seeking advice from professionals in the field of law in accordance with certain facts and circumstances it faces.
I. Procedure of Apostille Service Made SimpleI.
As of 4 June 2022, implementing regulation on the technicality of Apostille legalization services for theutilization of foreign documents in Indonesia finally took effect. The procedure can be found in, Regulation of the Minister of Law and Human Rights Number 6 of 2022 on Apostille Legalization Services for Public Documents (“ROMLH 6/2022”) following Indonesia’s ratification of the 1961 Hague Convention (“Apostille Convention”), through President Regulation No. 2 of 2021 concerning Ratification of Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (“PR 2/2021”). Considering the often-repeated demand to improve the ease-of-doing business in Indonesia, ROMLH 6/2022 is expected to successfully serve its purpose―simplifying complex bureaucratic procedures on the legalization process of public document for utilization abroad. This ROMLH, however, does not address any issues on the status of documentsapostilled abroad for utilization in Indonesia. The Director-General of Public Law Administration of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights of Republic of Indonesia will be the single government entity performing the apostille services. The procedure and timeline for this apostille service is summarized below.
I. Procedure of Apostille Service Made SimpleI.
There will be a notification to pay Apostille application fees that should be paid within 7 (seven) calendar days from the issuance of notification once the application is completed. Upon the payment of application fees, the Applicant will receive an electronic notification to collect the Apostille certificate. The Applicant shall then present the documents filed for Apostille to the Apostille service counter in the central or regional offices of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (as chosen by the Applicant) after 1 (one) business day after the notification to collect Apostille certificate. The Applicant will then receive a receipt of Documents and the Apostille certificate.
II. Which documents can be apostilled?
Apostille service is available for: Documents from an authority or an official related to state courts or tribunals, including from public prosecutors, court registrars, or bailiffs; Administrative Documents; Documents issued by notaries; and Official certificates attached to Documents, signed by an individual person within their civil authority, such as, a certificate that records a registration of a Document, or which records the validity period of a Document on a certain date, and the signature ratification by an official and a notary.
The above documents shall be exempted for:
III. Validity Period of Apostille Certificate
Apostille certificates do not mention an expiry date. Subsequently, it should remain valid for use. However, please be mindful to check whether your destination country or organizations that may request the specific the issuance of Apostille certificate within a specific period. A person or its proxy (“Applicant”) may submit the Apostille application for documents issued within the Indonesian territory and will be utilized in other contracting states of Apostille Convention. The apostille certificate replaces the requirement of getting the documents legalized by diplomatic representation. The Competent Authority in Indonesia is the Minister of Law and Human Rights. The service is provided via the Directorate General of Public Law Administration. To obtain an apostille certificate in Indonesia, the Applicant must submit such application electronically via Director General of Public Law Administration. The process involves submitting (i) his/her identity card; (ii) identity card of the proxy and his/her Power of Attorney (if a proxy carries out the submission); and (iii) documents submitted for Apostille. The Applicant must also fill out an application form on the official website. The application form contains:
The verification process will take 3 (three) business days from the receipt of the application at the latest. Any nonconformity in the application documents would cause such application to be rejected. However, re-submission would still be allowed.
IV. Comments and Conclusion
The initial period of the implementation of Apostille service in Indonesia has finally commenced. A more specific timeline has been set; giving more certainty to the beginning phase of this new feature. The ratification of Apostille Convention as well as the enactment of the ROMLH 6/2022 sends a positive signal to the business sector as it cuts down the unnecessary red tape and timelines in ensuring the authenticity of documents for trans-border usage in the member states. However, ROMLH 6/2022 does not explain whether foreign documents that have been Apostilled could be directly used in Indonesia as the effect of the ratification of the Apostille Convention. In addition, it is also necessary to pay attention to the time of adjustment and direction regarding the implementation of this convention by various authorities in Indonesia. Thus, parties requiring the use of foreign documents in Indonesia are advised to confirm beforehand with the relevant institutions regarding the use of Apostille certificates as a substitute for legalization by the Indonesian Embassy.