On 22 December 2003 Ukraine acceded the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. The Convention provides for the simplified certification of public (including notarized) documents by means of an Apostille (certificate) to be used in countries that have joined the convention.

Ukraine's accession means that the "authentication chain" will no longer be required. Instead, Dutch documents destined for use in Ukraine (and Ukrainian documents to be used in the Netherlands) should be certified by one of the officials in the jurisdiction in which the document has been executed.

Once a document has been issued by the Dutch authorities it needs to be apostilled. This means that the signature and seal are certified by the district court (“Rechtbank”). The district court will then attach an Apostille to the document.

With this certification by the Hague Convention Apostille, the document is entitled to recognition in Ukraine, and no legalization by the Consular/Visa Section of the Embassy of Ukraine is required (except the documents from Germany and Belgium).

Please note that all official documents, which were legalized through the regular Ukrainian or Dutch authentication chains before 22 December 2003 will remain valid and should be accepted by all Ukrainian and Dutch agencies.