According to Article 1 of the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, the Convention applies to public documents which have been executed in the territory of one Contracting State and which have to be produced in the territory of another Contracting State. Public documents as defined by the Convention mean:

1. documents emanating from an authority or an official connected with the courts or tribunals of the State, including those emanating from a public prosecutor, a clerk of a court or a process-server;
2. administrative documents;
3. notarial acts;
4. official certificates which are placed on documents signed by persons in their private capacity, such as official certificates recording the registration of a document or the fact that it was in existence on a certain date and official and notarial authentications of signatures.

The Convention applies to documents of education and civil status, work records, certificates of being alive and some other certificates, powers of attorney, court rulings and civil, family and criminal case materials.

The Convention does not apply to documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents or to administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations. These include powers of attorney authorizing execution of transactions, cross-border transfer of goods, agreements (contracts) on the supply of goods, rendering of services, performance of various types of work and making settlements thereon, etc. Where this is permitted under the national legislation of the country in whose territory these documents will be used, the documents are legalized according to the standard procedure, i.e., through consular legalization which requires applying to several separate offices in succession. This multi-stage legalization of documents for stricter control over transactions of commercial entities. An apostille is affixed to charters, constitutive documents, patent and other documents emanating from a government authority or agency (certificates of registration, licenses, etc.). Constitutive documents, including amendments and additions, must bear a note and the stamp of a registration or tax authority and must be signed by a registration authority official.