An “Attestation” is an affirmation by a witness that a Certificate / Document have been executed in his or her presence according to the formalities required by law. It is not the same as an acknowledgment or acceptance or confession, a statement by the issuer of a Document or Certificate that verifies its authenticity.

“Apostille” is a French Language and its literary meaning is re-attestation. An “Apostille” is a special form of authentication issued to documents for use in countries that participate in the Hague Convention of 1961.

If the destination Country is not a Hague Conventional Country (non-HCC) then the personal Documents and Certificates will be Attested and Legalized from the Embassy / Consulate / High Commission of the destination Country present in India. If the destination Country is a Member of Hague Convention then the Apostille from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on the personal Document or Certificate is the final process. If the document is Commercial one then it must be legalized from the concerned Embassy in India.

The documents which are used for business purpose are generally called Commercial Documents. Some examples are Memorandum and Articles, Board Resolution Copy, Power of Attorney etc.

When some Company wishes to Export their products to another Country then they have to produce some relevant documents for custom clearance and taxation purposes. Some examples of Export Documents are Certificate of Origin, Commercial Invoice, Bill of Lading etc.

The Company which is going to Export their product abroad then they can directly approach the Office of the Chambers of Commerce and get the Certificate of Origin from there. In India there is around twenty eight Chambers of Commerce and the Exporter Company will approach the Chambers of Commerce Office where they are registered.

In India the Apostille of personal documents or certificates will be done by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India. Prior Apostille the Documents will be attested from anyone of the following departments, The Document will be attested from the Human Resource Department (HRD), Regional Attestation Center (RAC), General Administrative Department (GAD), Home Department, Secretariat or Mantralaya etc of the State of issuance of the Documents.
OR
The Document will be attested from Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Delhi

A notary public or public notary is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business. A notary’s main functions are to administer and affirmations, take Affidavits and Witnesses and authenticate the execution of certain classes of documents, take acknowledgments of deeds and other conveyances, protest notes and bills of exchange, provide notice of foreign drafts, prepare marine or ship’s protests in cases of damage, provide exemplifications and notarial copies, and perform certain other official acts depending on the jurisdiction. Any such act is known as a Notarization.

The full form of HRD is Human Resource Development Department. The Attestation of the Educational documents will be attested from HRD. All the state’s Capital City has the HRD Department separately.

The required documents are, Original Document which to be Apostilled and the passport photocopy, first and last page, of the Certificate holder (s).

For HRD Attestation, the requirements of the documents are as under;

Original Degree or Diploma Certificate
All the original Mark Sheets of Degree course
Copy of Job Offer Letter
Colour Passport photographs
Copy of passport (first and last page)

The time frame of HRD Attestation of Educational documents could vary from State to State, i.e one day to one month.