On 12 and 13 May 2026, the 14th International Forum on the electronic Apostille (e-APP Forum) was held in Marrakech, Kingdom of Morocco. The Forum was organised by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), the HCCH Regional Office for Africa and the Arab World, and the Ministry of Justice of the Kingdom of Morocco.
๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ซ e๐ฑ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ m๐จ๐๐๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ณ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ l๐๐ ๐๐ฅ ๐๐ง๐ a๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ s๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐๐ฌ
Chaired by the Minister of Justice, Mr Abdellatif OUAHBI, and attended by Professor Mayatta Ndiaye MBAYE, Permanent Secretary of OHADA, the Forum provided an opportunity, through extensive exchanges of experiences involving participants from all continents, to review the status of the adoption and use of the electronic Apostille (e-Apostille), assess its positive impact on the circulation of public documents, evaluate its implications for the business environment as well as for the mobility of persons, goods and capital, and share approaches and tools aimed at strengthening the deployment of the e-Apostille.
As a pioneering initiative on the African continent, the Forum also highlighted the limited uptake of the 1961 Convention by African States, at a time when the needs of businesses and populations are steadily increasing.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง: a t๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ s๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ข๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ a๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ p๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ฌ
By way of reminder, the Convention of 5 October 1961 abolished the traditional and costly requirement of legalisation of public documents by facilitating their use abroad (1961 HCCH Apostille Convention), replacing it with the issuance of a single Apostille certificate delivered by a competent authority in the place where the document originates. In this regard, an electronic Apostille is an official Apostille created and signed electronically and associated with a secure digital certificate.
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ฏ๐ข๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ
Guided by the objective of facilitating the mobility of economic operators and supporting sub-regional and continental economic integration, particularly within the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), OHADA, through its participation in the Forum, continues to pursue its efforts towards improving the business climate.
On the sidelines of the Forum, the Permanent Secretary of OHADA held working sessions with the Secretary General of the HCCH, the Representative of the HCCH Regional Office for Africa and the Arab World, the Director of Supervision of the Central Bank of Morocco, and the President of the National Council of Notaries of Morocco
