Legalisation attachments in Belgium

In Belgium a practice has developed whereby the Belgian embassies in foreign countries may attach a ‘warning’ when legalising a document. The most frequent example is for repudiation. The warning note will then indicate to the future receiver of the document that according to the embassy, the document concerns the unilateral dissolution of a divorce.

This practice has been affirmed in an ‘Arrêté royal’ (published in the Moniteur belge of 11 January 2007). In the past the warning could be inserted on the legalisation sticker or on a separate sheet of paper attached to the document and legalisation, but according to the new rules only the last option remains.

It seems that such warning is most often respected in practice. However, strictly speaking the warning is not legally binding, as it is the competence of the authority in Belgium where the document is presented to consider its content and whether it can be recognised.