Apostille is a stamp or certificate issued by the competent authorities of a state signatory to the Hague Convention, for official documents drawn up in that state, which are to be presented in the territory of another state signatory to the Convention.

The purpose of issuing the apostille is to authenticate the origin of an official document, to prevent the use of fraudulent documents for the production of legal effects.

The procedure for issuing the apostille for administrative official documents issued by authorities of the central or local public administration, as well as other administrative authority bodies in Romania, which organize an activity of public interest, within strictly defined competences established by law, is carried out through the apostille office organized within the institutions of the prefect.

The issuance of the apostille is free and is carried out by the prefect's institution in the county where:

• the holder of the document or his/her spouse or a relative up to the second degree has domicile/last domicile;

or

• the issuer of the document has its headquarters.

By exception, criminal record certificates and civil status certificates can be apostilled at any prefect institution.

More information regarding the Hague apostille is available in the Apostille section