China becomes Apostille only November 2023

7th November 2023 is an important day for our clients. From 7 November, documents for China will only need to be notarised and then apostilled by the Foreigin and Commonsesalth Development Office (FCDO). China Embassy no longer required. Why the change? Well, China has joined the Hague (or Apostille) Convention which harmonises legalisation of documents between signatory countries. This change will be welcomed by many of our clients with China business. This is a big improvement.  It will give clients much needed certainty and access to very quick urnaround times.  We can notarise and get the apostille arranged in 24 hours.  As the E-Apostille gathers momentum, we will see more streamlining of legalisation. This legalisation change will also save costs.  For China, this removes a barrier for businesses based in the UK wanting to deepen their PRC presence and relationships.  We anticipate, like when India joined the Apostille Convention, for there to be a period of transitiion as those in China may still believe full China Embsassy legalisation is needed.  The Company Notary team are on hand to help clients with any of these challenges as they arise.