The Assembly,
Whereas the Committee of Ministers inscribed in its Programme of Work in 1954 "the abolition of the need for the legalisation of certain official documents" and invited the Hague Conference on Private International Law to draft an international convention for the purpose ;
Whereas the Hague Conference, at its Ninth Session held in October 1960, drafted a Convention abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents ;
Whereas this Convention was, on 5th October 1961, opened for signature by the States represented at the Ninth Session, as also Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein and Turkey, and is thus open for signature by all member States of the Council of Europe with the exception of Cyprus, which, however, may accede to it ;
Noting with satisfaction that the Hague Conference has accepted the suggestion made by the Assembly in its Recommendation 179 (1958) that conventions drafted by the Conference should be open to signature or accession by any Member of the Council of Europe which may so desire ;
Considering that this Convention, by abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents, would, if ratified, considerably facilitate the production of evidence in one country relating to official acts in another country;
Having regard to the fact that only six member States of the Council of Europe (Austria, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom) have, so far, signed this Convention ;
Having noted the contents of the Report of the Legal Committee (Doc. 1384),
Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :
should, in accordance with Article 15 (b) of the Statute, recommend that member Governments should sign and ratify the Convention abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents ;
should, in accordance with Article 19 of the Statute, inform the Assembly in due course of the action taken on this Recommendation.