Documents issued by non-member countries of the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (hereafter referred to as "the Apostille Convention") and to be used in Chinese mainland, shall be legalised first by the competent authorities in that country, and then be legalised by the Chinese embassies or consulates there.

Documents issued by member countries of the Apostille Convention, can be used in Chinese mainland directly after being apostillised by the competent authorities.

非《取消外国公文书认证要求的公约》缔约国出具、拟送往中国内地使用的公文书，应先经该国主管机关办理领事认证，再由中国驻该国使（领）馆办理领事认证。

《取消外国公文书认证要求的公约》缔约国出具的公文书，经该国主管机关办理附加证明书后，可直接在中国内地使用。