What a Chinese court needs notarised and apostilled from abroad, and what it does not

A foreign company in a Chinese civil case has its company papers and proof of who may represent it notarised, then apostilled or legalised. So is a power of attorney signed abroad, unless a Chinese judge witnesses the signing. The contract, invoices and emails have needed no notary since 1 May 2020, but every foreign-language page needs a Chinese translation.

A Chinese customer has stopped paying, a lawyer in China has agreed to file the claim, and the first email back is a list of documents. Every page sent through a notary and an apostille adds fees and days. Most of the list does not need it.

The contract, the invoices and the emails the claim rests on have needed no notary since 1 May 2020.^⁠[1] What does need one is a short list. It covers the papers that prove who your company is and who may speak for it, the power of attorney, and any public document the court cannot check another way.

Which of our documents need notarising for a Chinese court?

Three kinds, and one of them has ways round it. The table sets out what the rules ask of each paper a foreign company typically sends. “Apostille” is the certificate (附加证明书) that replaced embassy legalisation between China and the other Convention states on 7 November 2023. For a country outside the Convention, or a member it is not in force with, such as India, read “legalised by the Chinese embassy or consulate” instead.

Document	What the rules ask	Where
Proof the company exists 身份证明文件	Notarised in the home country, then apostilled or legalised	Interpretation Art. 521
Proof the signatory may represent it 代表人证明	Notarised in the home country, then apostilled or legalised	Interpretation Art. 521
Power of attorney for the Chinese lawyer 授权委托书	Notarised, then apostilled or legalised, if signed abroad and sent. Not if signed before a Chinese judge, in person or on video, or before a notary in China	Law Art. 275; Interpretation Arts. 523–524; Online filing Art. 6
Public documents used as evidence 公文书证	Certified by a notary where issued, or the treaty procedure. Not needed if the court can check it online or neither side disputes it	Evidence Art. 16, para. 1; Minutes para. 16
Evidence of personal status 身份关系证据	Notarised, then apostilled or legalised	Evidence Art. 16, para. 2
Private evidence: contract, invoices, delivery records, emails	No notary or apostille required by the rules	Evidence Art. 16, which names public documents and personal status only
Anything in a foreign language	A Chinese translation filed with it	Law Art. 73; Evidence Art. 17

The Civil Procedure Law lets a treaty China has joined override its own procedure (Article 271), which is how the Convention’s single certificate replaces embassy legalisation in the rules that still say “legalised”.^⁠[3,6] The Beijing International Commercial Court’s guide on the Convention applies it that way to powers of attorney and status evidence.^⁠[7]

Do our contract, invoices and emails need an apostille?

No. The notary rule for evidence formed outside China now covers two kinds only. Public documents need a notary where they were issued, or the treaty procedure (Evidence Provisions Article 16, first paragraph). Evidence of personal status, such as a marriage or parentage, needs a notary and then legalisation, or the treaty procedure (second paragraph).^⁠[1] The 2001 version of the same Provisions covered every piece of evidence formed abroad, public or private, and required both a notary and embassy legalisation.^⁠[8] English-language guides written before 2020 still describe that rule.

The rule sets the formality, not the weight. The other side can still dispute that it is genuine, and the court then weighs it like any other evidence. What it must carry, whatever its origin, is a Chinese translation.^⁠[1]

Which foreign documents count as public, and when is the notary not needed?

A document issued by a foreign court, a government body or a public registry. The SPC’s 2022 Minutes list foreign judgments and rulings, documents from administrative bodies, and commercial registration, birth, death and marital status records issued by public institutions. Documents from private bodies, such as a foreign appraisal firm, are not public documents.^⁠[4]

The same paragraph adds two exceptions. A public document needs no notary or treaty procedure if the court can check it over the internet, or if neither party disputes that it is genuine.^⁠[4] A company record that can be opened on the registry’s own public site is the obvious candidate for the first. Whether an online check is enough in place of the certificate is for the court to decide in the case.

How does this work for a claim over unpaid invoices?

Say a Dutch lighting brand is owed €60,000 by its Chinese distributor for 14 shipments delivered in 2026, and a lawyer in Zhejiang files the claim. The Netherlands is on China’s list of Convention states, so every “legalised” in the table becomes “apostilled”.^⁠[9]

1. Company extract and proof of the director’s authority: notarised in the Netherlands, then apostilled. Two documents.
2. Power of attorney: either notarised and apostilled with the other two, or signed on a video call with the judge watching once the case is filed online, which needs neither.
3. Distribution agreement, 14 invoices, delivery records and the email chain about payment: no notary and no apostille. All of it translated into Chinese.

The certificates fall on two or three documents instead of twenty. The translation falls on all of them, and on a claim built from correspondence that is most of the pages. Document notarisation and apostille prepares the short set; certified translation handles the rest.

Can we sign the power of attorney without a notary?

Yes, in three ways. The standard route, a notary and then an apostille for a power of attorney sent from abroad, is set out in which documents need notarisation and apostille for China.^⁠[3] The alternatives all put a Chinese official in the room.

• Before a Chinese judge. A power of attorney a company representative signs in the presence of a judge is accepted by the court.^⁠[2]
• Before a notary in China. One signed inside China and notarised by a Chinese notary is accepted too.^⁠[2]
• On video, through the court’s online filing service. Since 3 February 2021, a company registered abroad can file a first-instance civil or commercial claim online. The court first verifies its identity, from the company papers in the table, notarised and then apostilled or legalised. The judge, the company’s representative and the Chinese lawyer then join one video call, and the power of attorney signed on it needs no notarisation, legalisation or transmission.^⁠[5]

So the video route removes the certificate from the power of attorney only. The company’s identity documents and its representative’s authority still carry theirs, because the online check is made on them.^⁠[5]

What does the court need in Chinese?

Everything. Any documentary evidence in a foreign language must be filed with a Chinese translation (Civil Procedure Law Article 73).^⁠[3] For a claim filed online, the materials must be in Chinese or translated by a qualified translation company.^⁠[5] If the parties disagree about a translation, they appoint a translation agency together, and the court chooses one if they cannot agree.^⁠[2] What the courts and registries ask a translation to carry is covered in whether a certified translation from abroad is accepted in China.

What if the Apostille Convention does not apply between our country and China?

Then the old chain runs: a notary at home, then legalisation by your own foreign ministry and by the Chinese embassy or consulate.^⁠[7] Membership alone does not settle it. India is a Convention state, but it objected to China’s accession, so the Convention is not in force between the two and Indian documents still go the old way.^⁠[9] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs list shows which states the Convention links to China. The sequence for everyone else is in how to get a document apostilled for China.

A court that cannot confirm an apostille is genuine may refer it up to the Supreme People’s Court’s International Cooperation Bureau.^⁠[7]

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