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.

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.

Appointment of Notaries in Malaysia

The statute governing notaries public in Malaysia is the Notaries Public Act 1959. The Act came into force in peninsular Malaysia in 1959 and in East Malaysia in 1965. The Act repealed the Notaries Public Ordinance 1947.

Power of Appointment

Under the Act, the Attorney General is empowered to appoint notaries public to practice both in peninsular Malaysia as well as in East Malaysia. The appointment may be for a part of those regions only such as a specific state, and the Attorney General may also specify the period of the appointment. Such persons must be considered “fit and proper” by the Attorney General.

The area in which the notary may practise is usually the state or federal territory in which he practises as an advocate. Thus, a notary appointed to practise in one state cannot practise as a notary in another state. The usual period of appointment is two years, renewable upon application by the notary.

The Attorney General can also make temporary appointments. If it appears to him that any notary public is about to be absent from his place of practice in peninsular Malaysia for a period exceeding one month, he may appoint any person who is a practising advocate to be a notary public temporarily in the absence of that notary public. A temporary appointment means a period not longer than twelve months.

Similarly, if the location is in one of the states of East Malaysia, the relevant State Attorney General may make such a temporary appointment. This is the only instance where a notary public is appointed by a person other than the Attorney General.

 Conditions for Appointment

 a) Practising Advocate

The Act lays down certain conditions for the appointment of notaries. Firstly, the person must be practising as an advocate. The proviso to this requirement is that in any place in which a suitable advocate is not available for appointment, the Attorney General may appoint a public officer to be a notary public.

The Act does not go into further detail as to the qualifications of the practising advocate. However, the Attorney General requires applicants to have been in practice for at least 15 years. Upon making the application, the applicant is also required to submit a statutory declaration that he is not subject to any disciplinary proceedings under the Legal Profession Act 1976.

An obscure and probably redundant qualification for appointment is if the person to be appointed is a pleader licensed under the Pleaders and Writers Enactment of Trengganu and was so licensed prior to 1 January 1956.

 b) Consultation with Bar Council or State Attorney General

The Attorney General must also first consult the Bar Council prior to making an appointment. This is in the case of an appointment in peninsular Malaysia, while the Attorney General must first consult the State Attorney-General where the appointment is to be made in East Malaysia. The Bar Council would have records of the disciplinary history of the advocate concerned.

c) Existing Notaries in the Area

One of the considerations taken into account by the Attorney General is the number of notaries public already practising in the place where the applicant proposes to practice and to the convenience of the inhabitants of such place.

Apart from considering this factor, the Attorney General has the absolute discretion whether to make or refuse an appointment, and there is no appeal from his decision.

Every appointment of a notary public is published in the government’s Federal Gazette.

Applications are made online via the Attorney General Chambers’ web site.