Louwrens Koen Attorneys specialise in obtaining Apostille Certificates for all original South-African public, company, commercial and educational documents. Apostille is a French word (pronounced "ah-poh-steel"), meaning a certificate issued by a government of a country, authenticating the signature and or seal of a public official on a public document issued by that country, and intended for use in a foreign country. South-African public, company, commercial or educational documents, including documents witnessed, certified and sealed by a South-African Notary Public, when affixed or attached with an Apostille Certificate issued by the South-African Government, will automatically be accepted for legal use in foreign countries signatories to the Hague Convention. Apostille Certificates are restricted in their use to those countries which are signatories to The Hague Convention otherwise a full embassy or consulate legalisation procedure is necessary. 

The following countries have AGREED to participate in "The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents"
AlbaniaLithuania
AndorraLuxembourg
Antigua & BarbudaMacau (SAR of China)
ArgentinaMacedonia
ArmeniaMalawi
ArubaMalta
AustraliaMarshall Islands
AustriaMauritius
AzerbaijanMexico
BahamasMoldova
BahrainMonaco
BarbadosMongolia
BelarusMontenegro
BelgiumMontserrat
BelizeNamibia
BermudaNetherlands (The), including:
Aruba,  Suriname, Netherlands Antilles: (Curacao, Bonaire, St Martin, St Eustatius, and  Sabah)
Bosnia-HerzegovinaNew Zealand
BotswanaNiue
British GuyanaNorway
Brunei DarussalamOman
BulgariaPeru
Cape VerdePanama
Cayman IslandsPoland
China (Hong Kong-Special Administrative Region (SAR) only)Portugal
ColombiaRomania
Comoros IslandsRussian Federation
Cook IslandsSt. Christopher (Kitts) & Nevis
Costa RicaSt. Georgia & South Sandwich Islands
CroatiaSt. Helena
CyprusSt Pierre & Miquelon
Czech RepublicSt. Lucia
DenmarkSt. Vincent & the Grenadines
DominicaSamoa
Dominican RepublicSan Marino, Republic of
EcuadorSao Tome and Principe
El SalvadorSerbia
EstoniaSeychelles
FijiSlovakia
FinlandSlovenia
France  including:
French Guiana, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe,   Martinique, New Caledonia, Reunion, St. Pierre,  Miquelon and Wallis and Futuna
South Africa
GermanySouth Korea
GeorgiaSpain
GreeceSuriname
GrenadaSwaziland
GuernseySweden
GuyanaSwitzerland
Hong Kong (SAR of China)Tonga
HondurasTrinidad and Tobago
HungaryTurkey
IcelandTuvalu
IndiaUnited Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, including:
Anguilla, Guernsey, Bahamas, Isle of Man, Barbados, Jersey, Bermuda, Montserrat, British Antarctic Territory, St. Georgia & the South, Sandwich Islands,   British Virgin Islands, St Helena Cayman Islands,  Tonga & Caicos Islands, Dominica, Turks & Caicos, Falkland Islands, Virgin Islands, British Gibraltar
IrelandUnited States of America, including:
50 USA States, The District of Columbia, American Samoa,              Guam (Territory of), Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands
Isle of ManUkraine
IsraelUruguay
ItalyUzbekistan
JapanVanuatu
KazakhstanVenezuela
Korea (Republic of)Yugoslavia
Latvia 
Lesotho 
Liberia 
Liechtenstein 


An Apostille Certificate is the appropriate form of legalisation if your South-African South-African public document is required to operate in any of the above participating Hague Convention countries.