Romania–Ukraine treaty and the apostille requirement

Under normal Hague-Convention rules, any official document issued by a foreign state (including notarial deeds) must be legalized for use in Romania – typically by an apostille. However, Romania has a bilateral treaty (2002, ratified by Law 3/2005) with Ukraine on judicial/legal assistance in civil matters. Article 13 of that treaty explicitly provides that documents issued or certified by one country’s authorities (with official seal and signature) “are valid on the territory of the other Party without any further legalization”. In practical terms, this means that Ukrainian public documents (including notarized acts or translations by an official translator) are recognized in Romania without requiring an apostille. As one legal summary notes, under this Romania–Ukraine treaty “Apostille is not required” for covered documents (source: inter-lexis.ro, last visited on 04 May 2025).

In particular, the treaty’s wording covers notarized translations: it refers to documents “întocmite sau certificate de instituţiile judiciare” (i.e. drawn up or certified by judicial/notarial authorities) and even “copiile și traducerile” legalized by competent institutions (source: uniuneanotarilor.ro, last visited on 04 May 2025). In other words, a document (say, a power of attorney) and its certified translation done in Ukraine should carry over full effect in Romania without further legalization. The official Notaries’ Union annex confirms that the Romania–Ukraine treaty (signed Jan 2002, in force Oct 2006) was specifically intended to eliminate the apostille requirement (source: uniuneanotarilor.ro, last visited on 04 May 2025).

Romanian notary practice and translations

In practice, Romanian notaries will of course still require any foreign document to be translated into Romanian by an authorized translator before notarizing it. (English is not an official language of Romania, so a document presented in English must be translated into Romanian. Source: europa.eu, last visited on 04 May 2025). But the key point is that, under the treaty, the apostille requirement itself can be waived. Thus a Ukrainian-issued document or an English translation notarized in Ukraine may be accepted for purposes of a Romanian public act (e.g. drafting a Romanian notarial deed) without an apostille. In short: provided the document was notarized or certified by a Ukrainian official, Romanian authorities treat it as valid “without any other certification” (source: uniuneanotarilor.ro, last visited on 04 May 2025).

Our research found no special wartime decree or emergency law in Romania that further changes this rule. The war in Ukraine did not trigger any new Romanian ordinance on apostilles. Romanian ministries or the Notaries’ Union have not issued any additional guidance beyond the existing treaty. (For completeness, note that certain procedures do still require apostilles – for example, the law on citizenship by application currently requires apostilles on foreign documents – but this is a statutory exception, not a war-time measure.) In conclusion, absent any new legislation, Romanian notaries rely on the 2002 treaty: it seems that Ukrainian notarial documents can be used in Romania without apostille, though a Romanian-language notarized translation will be needed in due course.

Sources: Official Romanian–Ukrainian Legal Assistance Treaty (2002, ratified by Law 3/2005) and other material published on uniuneanotarilor.ro; inter-lexis.ro; EU/Youreurope guidelines on document translation (source: europa.eu, last visited on 04 May 2025).