According to an international agreement, an apostille can be issued for documents that need to be produced in another country covered by the Convention. An apostille stamp exempts a document from all forms of attestation. This means that the approval of a foreign ambassador is not normally required. Only Notaries Public have been able to issue apostilles in Sweden since 1 January 2005.
Examples of documents that can issued with an apostille immediately:
- Documents issued by government authorities (e.g. the Swedish Tax Agency, the Swedish Companies Registration Office, the Swedish Road Administration, the Medical Products Agency and the National Board of Health and Welfare)
- Register extracts (e.g. copies of birth certificates and extracts from the criminal records)
- Court documents (e.g. divorce issued by a district court)
- Grades/certificates from universities, higher education institutions, municipal schools (not independent schools)
- Documents signed by a Notary Public
- Documents signed by the Swedish Trade Federation
- Translations by an authorised translator (appointed by the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency)
- Extracts from the birth and marriage registers
Each document issued with an apostille must be provided with the following:
- The original stamp from the issuing authority, clearly stating the name of the authority
- The signature and printed name of the person who issued the stamp for the document
- The position of the person at the authority
