Embassy of the Netherlands

The Netherlands embassy has on 26 October 2020 re-located to The Capital Tower, Naza Tower, Persiaran KLCC, Kuala Lumpur. I have not had reason to visit the new consular office but do remember that its previous one at the Ampwalk was quite modern, so the new one should be even nicer.

Appointments for legalisation are made via its online appointment system. The last time I used it, back in January, an appointment could be made for two or three days later so it’s not a long wait. Legalisation fees charged are 26.25 Euros per document. Credit cards accepted. And documents can be collected the next working day.

High Commission of South Africa

The South African High Commission is located at Menara HLX, formerly Menara HLA, in Jalan Kia Peng, Kuala Lumpur. Since apostilles are not issued by the Malaysian authorities, since Malaysia is not a signatory to the Apostille Treaty, documents are legalised by the relevant diplomatic mission after they have been notarised by a Malaysia notary public and authenticated by the Malaysian foreign ministry.

There is no online appointment system for the South African High Commission, so just drop by during office hours. A phone call beforehand is of course advisable. A pleasant surprise is that unlike most embassies, there are no charges for legalisation! In my case, the documents were ready for collection two working days later.

During the current pandemic, it takes longer than usual to courier documents to South Africa. Delivery by DHL cost RM300 and it took a week to arrive.

Embassy of Turkey

The Turkish Embassy is located at Menara Tan & Tan in Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur. As Malaysia is not a signatory to the Apostille Convention, documents undergo a process of notarisation, authentication by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and legalisation by the relevant embassy or high commission. I recently handled the legalisation of certain commercial documents intended for use in Turkey. There is no need to make an appointment. Just turn up by 2.15pm and it is first-come, first-served. The embassy’s charges are RM80 per document, payable in cash. Documents can be collected the next working day.

The Embassy Of Italy

As Malaysia is not a signatory to the Apostille Convention, most Malaysia documents destined for use in Italy go through the process of a) notarization, b) authentication by the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and c) legalization by the Embassy of Italy in Kuala Lumpur.

As in the case of many European embassies these days, appointments are made online. The embassy’s website is at ambkualalumpur.esteri.it  The website contains both an Italian and English version. Click on “Prenota Online” to register and fix an appointment. The fee is RM111, payable in cash only, as at the date of writing.

Should you have any queries, they can be emailed to the consular office at cons2.kualalumpur@esteri.it

Sara Alessandri, Ufficio Consolare, will be able to provide prompt and useful guidance on documentation and other requirements.

Malaysia Is Not A Signatory To The Apostille Convention

I last wrote about the Apostille Convention in 2014. Also known as the Apostille Treaty, it is an international treaty of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. The treaty allows countries signed up to it to simplify the process of certifying the validity of public documents. Basically, all that is needed is for a “Competent Authority” in the country to issue the apostille.

“Public documents” can include birth, marriage and death certificates, passports, notarial acts and academic qualifications.

Countries not a party to the treaty must resort to a more troublesome and costly legalization procedure. The term, “chain certification”, aptly sums it up, as the document has to pass through several bodies before it is recognized as valid in another country.

As far as Malaysia is concerned, there is no change since my last article: it is still not a signatory to the Apostille Treaty. Thus, in the simplest of cases, a public document must first be notarized, then the notarization must be authenticated by the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before it is legalized by the consular office of the relevant foreign embassy or high commission.

The foreign ministry charges only RM20 per document.  Every embassy fixes its own fees, and these can be quite high. Each embassy also has its own procedures for submissions, mode of payment and collection of documents. I have written about the process at the Embassy of Georgia. I plan to write, from time to time, about the procedure at other embassies in Malaysia.

The Embassy of Georgia

I recently handled a matter involving the legalisation of some documents at the Embassy of Georgia. The documents were mainly some passports, and birth and marriage certificates.

After copies of the documents have been certified as true copies by a notary public, they must be authenticated at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia. This intermediate step acts as a confirmation by the Malaysian authorities that the person who notarised the documents is indeed a notary public.

Next comes the submission of the documents to the embassy. Georgia has a rather modern system. You make an online application via the Georgian foreign ministry website at geoconsul.gov.ge.  You fill in a simple form and upload the relevant documents. Click on the e-calendar and select your preferred time and date for your appointment at the embassy. On the day, you turn up and, if all is in order, pay the fees and collect the documents a couple of days later. The fee is US$15 per document or its Malaysian Ringgit equivalent. Payment may be made by an online payment to the embassy’s bank account.

One point to note is that where the application is made in person, then only that person can attend at the embassy. If the applicant wishes another person to submit or collect the documents, then a suitable letter of authorisation is required, and it should be uploaded with the other documents.

The Embassy of Georgia in Kuala Lumpur relocated recently and it is now situated at 3^rd Floor, Wisma Sin Heap Lee, 346 Jalan Tun Razak, 55000 Kuala Lumpur.

Notaries By The Numbers

Notaries are appointed to act in a specific territory only, either a state or one of the federal territories. Here is the breakdown of where notaries practice in Malaysia:

Kuala Lumpur 133

Selangor 40

Penang 36

Johor 26

Sarawak 22

Sabah 13

Perak 12

Negeri Sembilan 6

Melaka 6

Kedah 5

Pahang 4

Labuan 3

Putrajaya 2

Kelantan 2

Terengganu 1

Perlis 0

The figures are taken from the Attorney General’s Chambers’ website and the total is 311.

Since notaries are appointed from practising lawyers, the number of notaries in a state or FT will tend to reflect the number of lawyers practising there. The size of each state Bar is in turn influenced by the level of local legal and economic activity.

It is therefore no surprise the largest number of notaries, some 43%, are found in Kuala Lumpur. I do feel a little sorry for anyone in Perlis who needs the services of a notary. I suppose it is a short hop over to Kedah, where they have all of five to choose from.

In 2013, there were 15,331 advocates & solicitors in Peninsula Malaysia. Only practitioners with more than 15 years’ experience are eligible for appointment. I estimate there are about 6,000 who have reached this milestone in their professional lives. The 276 notaries in Peninsula Malaysia therefore constitute about 4.6% of all eligible lawyers in this part of the country.

Are there too few or too many notaries? Certainly it is easier to find a lawyer than to find a notary. However, I think the numbers regulate themselves. All 6,000 senior lawyers could have applied for appointment but they did not, I suspect, because apart from a lack of interest in this field of law, there is little financial incentive to do so. Notarial fees are prescribed by law, and they have not increased in decades. So lawyers who do take up notarial work are that odd species who either feel the fees justify the effort or, as a fellow notary told me, because they feel it is a form of public service. For myself, both these factors play a role but I also find it quite interesting to meet a wide spectrum of people. It certainly breaks up the monotony of my usual office work.

Change of Address

My office address is now changed to 105, Jalan Terasek 7, Bangsar, 59100 Kuala Lumpur. Telephone – 2282 2921, 012-3798132, Facsimile – 2201 9338.

Notaries in Sri Lanka

I was on holiday in Sri Lanka recently, and as I was driven around Colombo, I noticed many lawyers’ signboards (always white lettering on a black background) along the way. Every signboard proclaimed that the lawyer, called an attorney-at-law, was also a notary public.

On my return to Malaysia, I had a look at the Sri Lankan Notaries Ordinance. Basically, every attorney-at-law is entitled to be appointed as a notary public. Thus, barring grounds for ineligibility such as a serious criminal conviction, a lawyer in Sri Lanka is entitled as of right to be appointed as a notary. The appointment is made by the relevant minister who may also appoint articled clerks as notaries. This perhaps explains the relatively high number of notaries in Sri Lanka. Looking at a list of notaries, I estimate there are several thousand in the country. I have used the photo accompanying this note showing a whole row of notaries to illustrate the point. The photo was not taken by me, but downloaded from Google images.

As in Malaysia, a notary is appointed to practice within a specified locality, not throughout the country. Unlike Malaysia, the minister will also specify the language in which the notary is entitled to practice, usually either English or Sinhala or possibly both.

A notary is enrolled in the High Court and it is this court which enquires into any allegations of misconduct or incompetence. The judge reports his findings to the minister who may, if such allegations are found to be true, suspend the notary or cancel his warrant to act as a notary.

The Notaries Ordinance is a wide-ranging statute, setting out in fairly great detail the manner in which a notary carries out his work. Thus, as a general principle, a notary must not “divulge the secrets confided in him” except with expression permission or if required by law. Going down to the minutiae, he must not notarise a document written on paper “which is not of a reasonably durable description”. He must be in his office from 10am to 1pm on Mondays to Thursdays unless prevented by sickness or other good cause. And so on. The argument for a detailed statute is that it gives the notary clear guidelines as to the manner in which notarial work is to be conducted, and what he can and cannot do as a notary.

The Ordinance prescribes the fees which can be charged. I do not know when the schedule of charges were last revised, but the sums are frankly ludicrously low. No wonder then that the Ordinance also allows parties to negotiate fees which may be lower or higher than the scheduled fees. Perhaps a similar rule is needed in Malaysia too as our charges were last revised many years ago.

Authentication Of Documents In Malaysia

In a previous post, I explained Malaysia is not a signatory to the Apostille Convention. Consequently, Malaysian public documents for use in foreign jurisdictions are not authenticated by the simple procedure of affixing an apostille. Instead, such documents must undergo a process called legalization. This requires officials in both Malaysia and the foreign country to vet the document concerned.

On the Malaysian side, the authentication is carried out by the Consular Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The documents concerned are both public documents such as passports, birth certificates and other documents issued by relevant authorities but also what may be called quasi-public documents such as statutory declarations and powers of attorney.   The ministry sets a target of authenticating documents within one working day after submission.

However, it is important to note that certain earlier steps may need to be taken before submission to the ministry. Some documents require prior certification by other authorities. For example, a Malaysian school certificate must first be certified by the relevant education ministry, and a health certificate by the health ministry. In this connection, it should be mentioned that some types of documents must be notarised prior to submission to the Consular Division. The documents concerned include a) various prescribed forms under the Companies Act, b) powers of attorney, c) affidavits, and d) agreements and contracts.

A further condition is that documents translated from Malay to another language must also be certified as translated by an authorised translator.

More details can be obtained by the ministry’s web site,  www.kln.gov.my or you can send your queries by email to konsular@kln.gov.my.