You might also like: China to Intensify Efforts to Attract Foreign Investment Standards for Statutory Holidays & All Kind of Leaves On March 8，2023，Chinese Ambassador to the Netherlands Tan Jian officially deposited on behalf of China the instrument of accession with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the depository of the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, also known as "1961 Apostille Convention." This marks China's official accession to the Convention, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on March 10， 2023 at a regular press conference.The main purpose of the Convention is to simplify procedures for the use of public documents abroad and facilitate international trade and people-to-people exchange，the convention shall enter into force in China in early November.Then what is Apostille?An Apostille is a French word meaning certification. It certifies the authenticity of a public document, signature or stamp. It is a form of authentication issued to documents for use in countries that participate in the Hague Convention of 1961.The apostille ensures that public documents issued in one member country will be recognized as valid in another member country. Since the introduction of the apostille as a form of notarial certification, the international transfer of documents has become far easier and faster. Apostilles require no further diplomatic or consular legalization.China's accession is an important step towards greater institutional opening-up in the use of public documents abroad and will be a boon in two aspects, according to Mao.It will significantly reduce time and cost, become easier for Chinese citizens to complete relevant procedures for the use abroad of such documents as health certificate, driver’s license certificate, household registry certificate and certificate of academic degree.It will only take a few days to get one document ready for use abroad, compared with around 20 days previously. While the cost greatly reduced, the time required to complete relevant procedures between China and other member countries to the Convention will be slashed by about 90 percent on average.Mao said the second boon is it will help improve business environment. With China’s accession to the Convention, foreign companies investing in or exporting to China will no longer need to seek consular legalisation for commercial documents. There will be similar benefits for over 70 percent of China’s export-related commercial documents.