The Ministry of Justice Approved the Procedure for Affixing Apostilles on Official Documents for Use Abroad

The Procedure for affixing an apostille by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on official documents intended for use in other countries has been approved.

The relevant Order of the Ministry of Justice dated 20 November 2025 No. 3177/5 will enter into force on 1 February 2026, but not earlier than the date of its official publication.

From the date this document enters into force, Order of the Ministry of Justice dated 30 November 2015 No. 2452/5 “On Approval of the Procedure and Forms for Submitting Information on Specimen Signatures, Seal Imprints and/or Stamps” will become invalid.

The document establishes that the filling of the Electronic Apostille Register with specimen signatures of officials and seal imprints of competent authorities, specimen signatures of persons issuing or authorised to issue official documents, as well as specimen seal and/or stamp imprints that are or may be affixed to relevant documents, and information on public key certificates by entering data into the Register as prescribed by the Procedure for Maintaining the Electronic Apostille Register, shall be carried out by:

1. the Ministry of Justice – with respect to its officials;
2. the territorial bodies of the Ministry of Justice – with respect to officials of civil status registration departments, state registrars of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and public formations, and notaries;
3. the State Archival Service – with respect to officials of archival institutions and the State Archival Service of Ukraine;
4. courts – with respect to judges.

The Procedure stipulates that apostilles shall be affixed using the software tools of the Electronic Apostille Register (the “Register”).

The apostille affixing process or refusal to affix an apostille must be carried out within 3 working days, starting from the day following the registration in the Register of the application for apostille affixation.

A fee is charged for apostille affixation in the amounts established by Order of the Ministry of Justice dated 18 December 2003 No. 161/5 “On the Amount and Procedure of Payment for Apostille Affixation Services.”

In case the apostille is refused, the fee is not refundable.

The document sets out the procedure for:

• accepting documents for apostille affixation;
• examining documents for apostille affixation;
• issuing the result of the apostille affixation review;
• obtaining information from the Register about an affixed apostille.