On March 8, 2023, China joined the Convention on the Cancellation of the Certification Requirements for Foreign Official Documents (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention"). On November 7th, the Convention will come into effect in China, greatly simplifying the cross-border circulation process of official documents, facilitating international trade and personnel exchanges, and also greatly facilitating the parties involved in foreign-related cases, which will have a significant impact on the foreign-related trial work of Chinese courts. 1、 Overview of the Convention: The Convention is the international treaty with the widest scope of application and the largest number of contracting parties under the framework of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, aiming to simplify the process of cross-border circulation of official documents. In recent years, the number of new contracting parties to the Convention has grown rapidly. At present, there are 125 contracting parties, accounting for about three fifths of the total number of countries and regions in the world, including China's major trade partners such as EU countries, the United States, Japan, Germany, Australia, Russia, and most of the "the Belt and Road" countries. The Convention consists of three parts: a preamble, a main text, and an annex. The preamble clarifies the purpose of the convention, which is to eliminate the requirement for diplomatic or consular authentication of foreign official documents. The main body consists of 15 articles, which respectively stipulate the scope of official documents, certification definitions, additional certification practices, the relationship between the Convention and other relevant treaties, as well as the ratification, entry into force, accession, and repeal of the Convention. The attachment section is the format of the additional certificate. The Convention provides for the scope of official documents from three perspectives: firstly, the area of official documents. Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Convention stipulates that this Convention applies to official documents produced in the territory of one contracting party and required to be presented in the territory of another contracting party. Secondly, the category of official documents. Article 1, paragraph 2, of the Convention stipulates that the following four types of documents are considered official documents: firstly, documents issued by organs or officials related to a court or tribunal of a country, including documents issued by prosecutors, court clerks, or judicial executors; Secondly, administrative documents; Thirdly, notarized documents; The fourth is the official proof of documents signed in a private capacity, such as the registration of documents or the recording of facts existing on a specific date, as well as the official and notarized proof of signatures. Thirdly, there are two types of official documents to which the Convention does not apply. Article 1, paragraph 3, of the Convention stipulates that this Convention does not apply to documents produced by diplomatic or consular personnel, as well as administrative documents directly handling commercial or customs operations. The core content of the Convention is to cancel the consular authentication process between contracting states, replace traditional consular authentication with additional certificates (Apostille), and verify the authenticity of seals and signatures on documents. Before joining the Convention, official documents are sent abroad for use and usually require consular authentication. Starting from November 7th, official documents sent by China to other contracting states for use only require additional certificates as stipulated in the Convention, and can be sent to other contracting states for use without the need for consular authentication from China and the contracting states' embassies and consulates in China. When sending official documents from other contracting countries to mainland China for use, only an additional certificate from that country is required, without the need for consular authentication from that country and the Chinese embassy or consulate in the local area. Compared with the consular authentication system, the additional certificate system has changed from dual authentication to one-time confirmation, and from targeted exclusive use to universal use in contracting countries, greatly simplifying the cross-border circulation of official documents