Since the launch of the apostille certification – the legalization of a document for international use – in March 2007, the specialized division of the Justice Ministry has received more than 200,000 applications, Minister Vitalie Parlog told Info-Prim Neo. The fee for having a document legalized using an apostille in urgent mode (up to 3 workdays) is 200 lei as compared to the standard fee of 100 lei. For the apostillation procedure, the application should indicate the name, surname, domicile information, identification document, the list of papers for which the apostillation is requested, the bearer of the document, date and signature of the applicant. Attached to the application must be the acknowledgement that payment has been made. “Increased attention has been be paid to the simplification of this procedure as well as of the registration of these apostilles. In particular, significant effort has been made to improve activities related to the issuance of apostilles in urgent mode”, the minister said. The Ministry is currently working on an electronic database for apostille registration which will be viewable using a web interface. Apostille means legalization of a document for international use under the terms of the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. Documents which have been notarized by a notary public, and certain other documents, and then certified with a conformant apostille are accepted for legal use in all the nations that have signed the Hague Convention.