e-APP: Mexico Launches State-of-the-art e-Register of Apostilles
Mexico joins the growing list of jurisdictions that have implemented at least one of the components of the electronic Apostille Pilot Program (e-APP). The Secretaría de Gobernación (the equivalent of the Ministry of the Interior), which is the Competent Authority at the federal level and which issues Apostilles for all public documents executed by the Federal Government of Mexico, officially launched its e-Register in February 2010. This e-Register can be found at http://dicoppu.gobernacion.gob.mx/registro/.
The Permanent Bureau congratulates the Secretaría de Gobernación on this important achievement and notes that the state-of-the-art e-Register implemented by the Secretaría de Gobernación effectively combines modern technology with the issuance of secure paper Apostilles. The Secretaría de Gobernación uses PDF technology to issue Apostilles with an electronic signature. These Apostilles are printed on security paper and include an image of the handwritten signature of the person who issued the Apostille. The certificate of the electronic signature, which is based on a certificate issued by a trusted Certificate Authority, is not visible on the paper version of the Apostille – it is, however, visible on the electronic version of the Apostille stored in the e-Register. Once the recipient of the Apostille has accessed the e-Register and keyed in the date and the code of the relevant Apostille, the full electronic version of the Apostille becomes visible and the recipient may easily verify the origin of the electronic signature.
Furthermore, the e-Register of the Secretaría de Gobernación also allows for the verification of legalisations – Mexico is thus the first State to extend the benefits of the e-Registers of Apostilles to the legalisation procedure.
Finally, the Permanent Bureau also welcomes the implementation by the Mexican Government of two Conclusions & Recommendations of the 2009 Special Commission held in The Hague. The standard items of the new Apostille Certificate are trilingual (Spanish, English, French), and the limited effects of an Apostille are referenced in a statement outside the box (see Conclusions & Recommendations Nos 85 and 89 of the 2009 Special Commission, available here).
The following jurisdictions have implemented one or both of the e-APP components:
|
Jurisdiction |
e-Apostilles |
e-Register |
|
Kansas (USA) |
February 2007 |
|
|
Rhode Island (USA) |
|
February 2007 |
|
Belgium |
|
October 2007 |
|
Colombia |
October 2007 |
October 2007 |
|
Murcia (Spain) |
November 2008 |
|
|
Bulgaria |
|
November 2008 |
|
Republic of Moldova |
|
January 2009 |
|
New Zealand |
May 2009 |
|
|
Georgia |
|
July 2009 |
|
Andorra |
|
July 2009 |
|
Mexico (Federal District) |
|
February 2010 (additionally allows for the verification of the e-signature on the Apostille) |