Panaji: State govt has formulated a standard operating procedure (SOP) for pre-authentication of personal, commercial and educational documents intended for use abroad before their submission for apostille or attestation by the Ministry of external affairs (MEA), Govt of India.Chief secretary V Candavelou said the MEA, which has administrative jurisdiction over the matter, has authorised the regional passport officer (RPO), Goa, to issue apostille certificates on public documents in the state. India is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, 1961, which eliminates the need for legalisation of foreign public documents for use in member countries once an Apostille certificate, including an e-apostille, has been affixed by the competent authority in the country where the document originated.For non-signatory countries, documents are endorsed with MEA attestation before being submitted for onward legalisation at the embassy, high commission or consulate general of the concerned foreign country, as required.“In order to ensure the authenticity and genuineness of documents submitted for apostille/attestation, the MEA requires that such documents are pre-authenticated by the documents issuing authorities (DIAs) in the concerned States/UTs,” Candavelou said.State govt has appointed the director of education, director of technical education, director of skill development and entrepreneurship and under secretary (home) as authorities for the process.Candavelou said the signature of every authority or officer authorised to issue documents shall be compulsorily registered with the DIA by the relevant head of department or office, along with clear details of the types of documents they are authorised to issue.“The DIA shall, on receipt of a document for pre-authentication, attest the signature of the concerned authority/officer on the public document. A notary appointed under the Notaries Act, and the rules framed thereunder, shall compulsorily register his signature with the DIA,” Candavelou said.For canonical documents signed by the notary based at the Paco-Patriarchal, Archbishop’s House, Altinho, Panaji, the DIA shall attest the notary’s signature on receiving the document for pre-authentication, provided the signature is registered with the DIA.In rare cases where a certified copy issued by the concerned govt department or office is unavailable, the DIA shall inspect the original document and pre-authenticate its photocopy.“Once the pre-authentication is completed by the DIA on the document, it may be submitted to the MEA outsourced service providers (OSP) for obtaining the apostille/MEA attestation on the same in Goa,” Candavelou said.
