No more stamps - Consulates in the US already using the Apostille convention

An interesting exchange with a client:

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Hello Adler:

I am in the process of gathering the documents for CNPJ for my company.  I pretty much have them all in my hands now.  Question for you - I just went to the website of Brazilian Consultate in Washington DChttp://cgwashington.itamaraty.gov.br/en-us/general_information_from_august_14th_2016.xml and it states that it will NO LONGER legalize ANY DOCUMENTS issued in the US.  Instead, US documents must be accompanied by Apostille.  Please advise on what to do as I can no longer "legalize" the documents in the US.  Here is an abstract from the Brazilian Consultate website:

LEGALIZATION OF AMERICAN DOCUMENTS - FROM AUGUST 14TH 2016

American documents of all types (e.g. school, public and private) will NO LONGER need consular legalization. Documents will simply need to be accompanied by an “apostille” issued by the Secretary of State of the state where the document was issued.

From August 14th 2016 the Consulate General of Brazil will no longer legalize any documents issued in the United States, as the Convention Abolishing the requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (“Apostille Convention”) will be valid in Brazil from that date.

Consular legalization will no longer be required, since it will be replaced by the ‘Hague Apostille’. Such Apostille may be found in all US states at the Secretary of State’s office, or at any US Authority’s office listed on the Hague Conference on Private International Law webpage .

In reciprocity, Brazilian documents will no longer be required to be legalized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministério das Relações Exteriores) in order to be valid in the United States. Some Notary Offices (Cartórios) in Brazil will be allowed to issue Hague Apostilles on behalf of the Brazilian State, in order to verify document authenticity. Further details on the regulation of the employment of the Apostille Convention in Brazil can be found in Decision 228/2016 of the National Justice Council (Conselho Nacional de Justiça – CNJ).

NOTE:  In accordance with CNJ Decision, foreign documents legalized before August 14th 2016 by Embassies and Consular Offices in Hague Party Countries will only be accepted in Brazil until February 14th 2017.

For information on the validity of the Apostille Convention by Brazil, please contact the CNJ Ombudsman Office (Ouvidoria):

Webpage: http://www.cnj.jus.br/ouvidoria-page

Phone : +55 (61) 2326-4607 / 2326-4608

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MY ANSWER

Dear Client, 

Thanks for sending this. 

Their information is right. Brazil did ratify the convention. But adoption by local public agencies in Brazil and even by some embassies abroad is being slow and irregular. 

If the US embassies are already fully able to adopt the Apostille, we have no choice but to use it and to explain to the Brazilian agencies in Brazil that this is how documents from the US must be accepted, from now on. 

May I post your message to my blog, without mentioning your name? It would make a perfect example for future readers. 

Thanks, 

Adler