We provide our clients around the world with apostille services of documents by the Moroccan authorities.

Our office in Rabat is in touch with embassies, the Foreign Ministery and the Moroccan services of authentification.

We provide also sworn translation.

Thanks to our connections with the different authoritites we are able to deliver a fast and cost effective service to our clients.

The Apostille Convention applies only if the country that issued the public document and the country where the public document is to be used are both parties to the Convention.

The convention concerns only public acts. The following are considered public documents :

The acts emanating from an authority or a civil servant under a State jurisdiction, including those emanating from the public prosecutor’s office, a clerk of court or a court bailiff;
Documents issued by administrative authorities, including documents issued by public administrations, public establishments or local authorities: administrative certificates, diplomas, civil status documents, tax notices, etc.
notarized acts carried out by notaries such as deeds of sale, wills and donations…..etc.
private documents certified by the registration services or legalized by the competent administrative authorities.
The Apostille Convention does not apply to documents issued by diplomatic or consular agents. The Convention also excludes from its scope certain administrative documents relating to commercial or customs transactions.

The Kingdom of Morocco has designated the following competent authorities to issue the apostille:

The Public Prosecutor of the King at the Court of Cassation or his representative, for documents issued by an authority or official under this jurisdiction.
The public prosecutors at the courts of first instance or their representatives for documents issued by the officials of the courts of the Kingdom, including those issued by the public prosecutor’s office, the clerks of the court and the bailiffs or notaries.
The Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice and Freedoms or his representative for all documents issued by the Ministry of Justice and Freedoms.
The walis and governors of the prefectures and provinces of the Kingdom to which the services that issued the documents that are the subject of the apostille certificate belong or their representatives for the documents issued by the administrative authorities and the private-signature documents approved by the registration services or those legalized by the administrative authorities concerned.

The apostille is issued at the request of the signatory of the document or of any bearer of the document.

What public documents are not subject to apostille?

Documents issued by diplomatic or consular agents;
Administrative documents directly related to a commercial or customs transaction (e.g. certificates of origin, import or export licenses);
Documents excluded under bilateral and multilateral conventions waiving the requirement for legalization.

What are the effects of an apostille?

An apostille certifies only the origin of the public document to which it relates: it certifies the authenticity of the signature or seal of the person or authority who signed or sealed the public document and the capacity in which he or she acted.
An apostille does not certify the content of the public document to which it relates.
Apostilles do not confer authority or give any additional weight to the contents of the underlying documents.

What are the circumstances in which the apostille may be refused?

The issuance of the apostille may be refused in the following cases:
If the state wishing to present the certificate in its territory is not a party to the convention.
If the documents to be apostilled are among those excluded from this operation.
If the documents presented are obviously tainted by fraud or falsification or are contrary to public policy and morality or contain defamatory or insulting statements.

If the recipient of my Apostille wants to verify it, what should I suggest?
The Convention has established a control system to facilitate the verification of the authenticity of the Apostille.

The information recorded in the register is

the name of the person who requested the apostille ;
the serial number and date of the apostille
the name and capacity of the person who signed the underlying public document;
where the document is not signed, the name of the authority that affixed the stamp or seal.
The recipient of the apostille can also access the apostille portal www.apostille.ma to verify that the information on the apostille matches the information in the electronic register. This makes it easy to verify the origin of the apostille online.