The article titled “The Legal Regime Governing Foreign Official Documents Used as Evidence in Romania,” written by Associate Professor Șerban-Alexandru Stănescu, Ph.D., of the Faculty of Law at the University of Bucharest.

Official documents sometimes form the basis of rights acquired by parties abroad, which may mean that, in order to exercise those rights in Romania, it is necessary to submit them to the Romanian authorities.

Based on this reality, this article aims to highlight the following aspects. First, it analyzes the legal mechanisms established at the national and international levels for certifying, in the forum state, the official nature of documents drawn up in another country and, at the same time, for overcoming the obstacle that the principle of national sovereignty might pose to the recognition of the effects arising from such official status. Second, this paper examines the scope of the effects that foreign official documents produce in Romania, specifically the probative value they hold with respect to the legal situation they reflect.

Keywords: foreign official documents; apostille; legalization; probative value; Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents.