What is legalisation or the Apostille for?
Sworn translations, in order to have legal effect abroad, must be legalised or apostilled.
The translation of a document subject to legalisation
Documents issued abroad by foreign authorities and intended for use in Italy, if drawn up in a foreign language, must be accompanied by an Italian translation certified as conforming to the foreign text by the competent diplomatic or consular mission, or by an official translator (art. 17(3), Law no. 15 of 4 January 1968). The translation makes the foreign document immediately intelligible to Italian speakers and provides certainty as to the correspondence between translation and source text.
Article 68 of the notarial regulations provides that documents in a foreign language deposited with a notary must be accompanied by an Italian translation made and signed by the notary, if the notary knows the language, or otherwise by an expert chosen by the parties. The law has also entrusted diplomatic and consular representatives abroad with the role of translators, in view of the guarantee of reliability inherent in their office. The legislator has never given a definition of "official translator": in practice, the term designates a translator registered with the court's Register of Court-Appointed Experts or with the Register of Experts of the Chamber of Commerce, who swears the translation before the registrar.
The sequence of steps
- The document is obtained in original, or in certified copy, in the country of issue.
- It is apostilled or legalised in that country (Apostille for Hague Convention countries, consular legalisation for the others).
- It is translated into Italian and the translation is sworn before the Court of Rome.
- Where the Italian translation is itself to be used abroad, the record of the oath is apostilled or legalised at the Public Prosecutor's Office.
The complete Italian text is available on the Italian page.