Should Foreign Documents Be Legalized at the Indonesian Embassy?

PERTANYAAN

Please provide a piece of information regarding the validity of any signatures which are undertaken or signed overseas, and which documents must be legalized at embassies in order for them to be validly used in Indonesia?

INTISARI JAWABAN

Document legalization here is the validation of the document and is only conducted on signatures and does not include the validity of the contents of the documents.

It should be noted that any Indonesian documents which will be used in other countries or foreign documents which will be used in Indonesia need to be legalized by authorized institutions.

However, there are now exceptions for certain documents from this legalization provision. What are those?

Please read the review below for a further explanation.

ULASAN LENGKAP

This article is an English translation of Perlukah Dokumen Asing Dilegalisasi di KBRI? which was written by Saufa Ata Taqiyya, S.H., and was published on Friday, 19 February 2021.

This article below is an update of the article with the same title, which was first published on Monday, 18 January 2021.

All legal informations which are available through Klinik hukumonline.com have been prepared for educational purposes only and are general in nature (read the complete Disclaimer). In order to obtain legal advice specific to your case, please consult with Justika Partner Consultant.

For ease of explanation, we assume that you are asking about the validity of signatures that are conducted overseas/abroad.

In fact, there is a connection between your two questions. Therefore, we will first explain what is meant by the legalization of documents that are drawn up abroad.

According to our research, there are no laws and regulations which specifically and comprehensively address the legalization of documents drawn up abroad. However, you may refer to the Appendix to Regulation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Number 3 of 2019 on General Guidelines for Foreign Affairs by Regional Governments ("Regulation of MoFA 3/2019"), namely number 79 letter b that states:

In the event that document validation is required, the following procedures shall be carried out:

2. For documents issued abroad and to be used in Indonesia, validation shall be carried out by a competent foreign authority where the document is issued, an Indonesian Representative in the country where the document is issued, or a Neighbourhood Representative who also serves as accreditation, and if necessary, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In addition, Article 1 section (1) Regulation of the Government Number 49 of 2016 on Type and Rates of Non-Tax State Revenue Applicable to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (“Government Regulation 49/2016”) also regulates:

Types of Non-Tax State Revenue applicable to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs include revenues from:

1. domestic receipt of the validation of signatures or the legalization of copies of documents for Foreign Citizens in the country;
2. foreign receipts for the issuance of documents; and
3. foreign receipts for the validation of signatures or legalization of copies of documents issued by foreign countries.

Furthermore, quoting from the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, what is meant by document legalization is the validation of documents and is only carried out on signatures and does not include the validity of the contents of the documents. Any Indonesian documents which will be used in other countries or foreign documents which will be used in Indonesia need to be legalized by authorized institutions.

The definition explains that legalization is the validation of signatures on documents, both documents which are drawn up in Indonesia to be used abroad, or documents from abroad which will be used in Indonesia.

Thus, it can be concluded that the signatures on foreign documents which are carried out abroad are not yet valid to be used in Indonesia, therefore it is necessary to validate the signature through the legalization of documents.

In response to your second question, regarding which documents should be legalized at embassies in order to be legally used in Indonesia, on the website we quoted above mentions that any foreign documents that are going to be used in Indonesia need to be legalized by authorized institutions.

Arif Billah as the staff/official of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Addis Ababa confirms that any documents which are drawn up abroad, if they are going to be used in Indonesia, for example, such as being used/submitted to certain government agencies, must be legalized at the local Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (Kedutaan Besar Republik Indonesia/"KBRI") first, including business documents such as contracts.

In addition, as already discussed in the article entitled Mandatory Legalization of Documents Signed Abroad, in the Decision of the Supreme Court Number 3038 K/Pdt/1981 dated 18 September 1986 states that the validity of power of attorney drawn up abroad, apart from having to meet the formal requirements, it must also be legalized in advance by the local Indonesian Embassy.

Besides the Indonesian Embassy, the legalization of documents is also conducted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As sourced from the Document Legalization Services on the page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, documents that can be legalized are birth certificates, death certificates, reference/testimonials, marriage certificates, diplomas, driving licenses, power of attorney, letters of good conduct, certificates of origin, and so forth.

It should be noted that any documents which are going to be legalized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must have first been validated by Indonesian Representatives Abroad or Foreign Representatives in Indonesia for foreign documents that are going to be used in Indonesia.

Applications for document legalization to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can be submitted via the Document Legalization application, which you can download from Google Play.

As additional information, besides the legalization as described above, documents that are issued abroad and which will be used domestically also need to be legalized by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.[1]

The documents referred to here are written or printed letters that are used as evidence.[2] Then the legalization is carried out on the signature of an official (a person who is authorized and serves in a government office, institution, or non-governmental agency, including a general officer who is appointed by the government) on the relevant document.[3]

This legalization application is submitted electronically in which you can follow the Electronic Legalization Application Guidelines by the Director General of Legal Administrative Affairs, Ministry of Law and Human Rights.

Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents

However, now, with the promulgation of Regulation of the President Number 2 of 2021 on the Ratification of Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (“President Regulation 2/2021”), certain documents are now exempt from legality requirements.

Each participating country/state party is obliged to issue legalization documents regulated in the Convention and which documents must be drawn up in its territory.[4]

This Convention applies to public documents which are used in the territory of the state parties of the convention and which must be produced in the territory of other state parties, including:[5]

1. Documents originating from an authority or official relating to courts or State tribunals, including from public prosecutors, court registrars, or bailiffs ("huissier de justice");
2. administrative documents;
3. documents issued by notaries;
4. official certificate affixed to documents signed by individuals within their civil authorities, such as certificates that record the registration of a document or which records a certain validity period of a document on a certain date and the validation of signatures by officials and notaries.

However, this Convention does not apply:[6]

1. to documents signed by diplomatic or consular officials;
2. on administrative documents which are directly related to commercial activities or customs.

In addition, it should be noted that in ratifying this Convention, the Indonesian Government made a statement regarding the scope of public documents under Article 1 of the Convention, which is:[7]

The Government of the Republic of Indonesia shall be bound by the provision of Article 1 on the scope of public documents in the Convention by stating that the documents which are issued by the public prosecutor’s office as the prosecution agency in the Republic of Indonesia are not included in the public documents for which the legalization requirement has been eliminated as set out in this Convention.

Thus, specifically for public documents issued by prosecutors in Indonesia, the legalization requirements remain valid.

The only formalities which may be required in order to certify the authenticity of signatures, the authority that is exercised by the signatories of documents and, if necessary, the identities of the seals or stamps which are affixed to them, are the addition of certificates which are issued by the competent authorities of the State in which the documents were originated.[8]

Furthermore, it should be noted that this Convention only applies to countries that are parties to the Convention, therefore, if public documents from Indonesia are going to be used in other countries which are not parties to the Convention, then said countries may require legalization.

As additional information, as of 18 January 2021, there are currently 120 countries that are parties to the Convention.[9]

These are the answers we can provide, we hope you will find them useful.

Legal Basis:

1. Regulation of the Government Number 49 of 2016 on Type and Rates of Non-Tax State Revenue Applicable to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
2. Regulation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Number 3 of 2019 on General Guidelines for Foreign Affairs by Regional Governments;
3. Regulation of the Minister of Law and Human Rights Number 19 of 2020 on Authentication Services for the Signature of Officials on Documents at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights;
4. Regulation of the President Number 2 of 2021 on the Ratification of Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents.

Court Decision:

Decision of the Supreme Court Number 3038 K/Pdt/1981.

Reference:

1. Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents;
2. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accessed on 15 January 2021, at 21.35 West Indonesian Time (zone);
3. Document Legalization, accessed on 18 January 2021, at 13.20 West Indonesian Time (zone);
4. Electronic Legalization Application Guidelines, accessed on 18 January 2021, at 13.58 West Indonesian Time (zone);
5. Document Legalization Services, accessed on 18 January 2021, at 13.00 West Indonesian Time (zone);
6. Status Table, accessed on 18 February 2021, at 20.58 West Indonesian Time (zone).

NB:

We have conducted an interview via phone call with Arif Billah, an official of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Addis Ababa, on the 15^th of January 2021, at 20.45 West Indonesian Time (zone).

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[1] Article 2 section (2) letter b Regulation of the Minister of Law and Human Rights Number 19 of 2020 on Authentication Services for the Signature of Officials on Documents at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (“Regulation of the Minister of Law and Human Rights 19/2020”).

[2] Article 1 number 4 Regulation of the Minister of Law and Human Rights 19/2020.

[3] Article 2 section (1) Regulation of the Minister of Law and Human Rights 19/2020.

[4] Article 2 Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (“Convention”).

[5] Article 1 Convention.

[6] Article 1 Convention.

[7] Appendix to Regulation of the President Number 2 of 2021 on the Ratification of Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (“President Regulation 2/2021”).

[8] Article 3 Convention.

[9] Status Table, accessed on 18 February 2021, at 20.58 West Indonesian Time (zone).