Use of foreign public documents (e.g. birth certificates, marriage certificates, high school or university diplomas, police clearances etc.) in international legal transactions requires that they be legalized, unless bilateral or multilateral treaties stipulate otherwise. Subject to legalization are also private documents that, once certified by the competent body of the country they were issued in, acquire the status of public documents. Legalization confirms the authenticity of the stamp and signature of the official person (issuing authority) and not the content of the document.
Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents simplified the legalization procedure so public documents are subject to single authentication by the competent body of the country they were issued in. Information about said convention, its parties and authorities issuing Apostilles can be found at
www.hcch.net.
Public documents issued in Croatia, which shall be used in South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles, Botswana, Burundi, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi and Namibia; as well as public documents issued in those countries, which shall be used in Croatia, DO NOT require full legalization, but Apostilles. Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Pretoria does not take part in the legalization of public documents issued in those countries. Please refer to www.hcch.net to determine the competent authority that issues Apostilles in those countries.
Still, if there is no bilateral or multilateral treaty between Croatia and the other country abolishing or simplifying the legalization, documents are subject to full legalization in which the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the competent diplomatic missions of the Republic of Croatia are also taking part. The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs as well as Croatian diplomatic missions and consular posts abroad are authorized to legalize documents in international legal transactions (i.e. documents issued abroad to be used in Croatia and documents issued in Croatia to be used abroad) pursuant to the Act on Legalization of Documents in International Legal Transactions (Official Gazette 53/91).
Public documents issued in Croatia, which shall be used in inter alia Mozambique, Kenya, Zambia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi; Togo, Senegal, Malawi, DR Congo, Ghana or Nigeria, as well as public documents issued in those countries, which shall be used in Croatia, REQUIRE full legalization.
Legalization of public documents issued in Croatia for use abroad
The stamp and signature of the body or institution that issued the documents has to be legalized in the following order: 1) at the municipal court according to the address of the issuing authority (general register office, notary public, court interpreter, university etc.); 2) at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia, Vukovarska 49, 10 000 Zagreb; 3) at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, Petretićev trg 2, 10000 Zagreb; 4) at a foreign diplomatic mission to Croatia of a country the document is intended to be used in.
Working hours for legalization of documents at MFEA are Monday to Thursday 9.00-11.00 and 13.00-15.00, and Fridays 9.00-12.00. The applicant should bring the originals of the documents that are to be legalized, their unauthenticated copies and an identification document.
If the country in which the applicant intends to use the document does not have a diplomatic representation to Croatia, the document (after legalization at the MFEA), in step 4, is to be legalized by Croatia’s diplomatic mission to the country in which the country of destination does have a diplomatic representation, then the foreign ministry of the country in which both countries have a diplomatic representation, and then finally the diplomatic representation of the country in which the document is to be used.
Legalization of foreign public documents for use in Croatia
Public documents issued abroad can be used in Croatia (unless stipulated otherwise by bilateral or multilateral treaties) if they have been authenticated in accordance with the regulations of the country of origin and legalized by the diplomatic mission of Croatia in that country. Or, after authentication in accordance with the regulations of the country of origin, the documents can be legalized by the diplomatic mission of that country to Croatia and certified by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.
If there is no Croatian diplomatic mission to that country, and that country has no diplomatic mission to Croatia, legalization can be performed in a third country in which both countries have diplomatic missions; that in the following manner: after authentication by the competent bodies of the country of origin, the document is legalized by its diplomatic mission in the third country, then the ministry of foreign affairs of the third country, and finally the diplomatic mission of Croatia to the third country.
It is not possible to request legalization of foreign public documents which have not been authenticated in countries where they were issued, e.g. at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the issuing country, as well as at the diplomatic mission of the issuing country in a foreign (third country, e.g. South Africa), where both, the issuing country, as well as the Republic of Croatia do have their diplomatic representations.
