11th International Forum on the e-APP (electronic Apostille Program) will be held in Fortaleza, Brazil, from 16 to 18 October 2019

The Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) has announced that the 11th International Forum on the e-APP (electronic Apostille Program) will be held in Fortaleza, Brazil, from 16 to 18 October 2019.

The e-APP promotes the use of technology to further enhance the secure and effective operation of the HCCH Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents Apostille Convention (Apostille Convention).  Among the technologies that will probably be discussed are the use of distributed ledger technologies (such as blockchain) in accordance with the Conclusion & Recommendation No 35 of the HCCH Council.

The working languages of the Forum will be English, Portuguese and Spanish.

Many Contracting Parties have already implemented one or both components of the e-APP. There are already 35 Contracting Parties with an e-Register, many of which are in the Americas. See here.

More information (incl. registration process) will be made available on the Apostille Section of the HCCH website. While the number of participants is limited, registration is free of charge and will be handled on a first come, first served basis.

The HCCH news item is available here. See also the information relating to the 10th e-APP Forum as it compiled all previous Conclusions & Recommendations.