The Republic of Cyprus has acceded to the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of legalization for Foreign Public Documents, signed in the Hague, on 5.10.1961. The Convention was ratified by the Law 50/72 as amended 91/72. For the implementation of this Convention, the Ministry of Justice and Public Order has been assigned as the Central Authority.
The Contracting States of this Convention are provided below:
https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/?cid=41
The link to the Apostille Section of the HCCH website is provided below:
https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/specialised-sections/apostille
The main provision of the Convention is the exemption from legalisation of any diplomatic or consular legalisation of foreign legal documents and the limitation of legalisation of the signature of a legal document with the seal “apostille”. This shall apply 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.
By becoming a Member of the European Union, Cyprus is bound by the provisions of EC Regulation for the Abolishing of Legalisation of Documents between the Member States of the E.U., which opened for signatures in May 1987 in Brussels. The Ratification Law is the 32(III)2002 (available only in Greek).
The legalisation of documents is taking place at the Ministry of Justice and Public Order, 122 Athalassas Avenue, Nicosia and at the Limassol District Office, of the Apostille Department, at 21 Spyros Araouzos, 1st floor, 3036 Limassol, between the hours 8:00 - 15:00 Monday to Friday.
Contact:
Nicosia Office: (+357) 22805998/924/967
Limassol Office : (+357) 25345650, (+357) 25345651
Briefing Note
Related Files:
- Apostille Handbook on the Practical Operation of the Apostille Convention.
- Procedures for Apostille Documents are available only in Greek language, here.
- Exemption of Certain Public Documents from the Apostille Requirement According to Regulation EU 2016/1191