It seems likely that Canada would move to an e-register from the outset, but the challenges of the e-app may lead it to start
with apostilles on paper.
Not exact matches
Since Canada is considering acceding to this Convention, this column will review some of the issues involved in that process and in particular the technological frontiers of authentication that The Hague Conference on Private International Law is exploring
with respect to electronic
apostilles.
Presumably serving as a commissioner for an affidavit is an even stronger case in the same sense, as the document is a public document (within the meaning of the
Apostille Convention anyway — not sure the term has much sense in a common law jurisdiction otherwise), and the commissioner is supposed to identify the signer
with some certainty and understand the oath, declaration or affirmation to be genuine and unforced.
The Hague Conference has been working (
with the National Notary Association in the US) to develop a system of electronic
apostilles, and a few countries have started producing them.
The Hague Conference has been doing a lot of work on electronic
apostilles too,
with some success, especially for the registry of
apostilles that can be readily verified from the country of destination.
She often liaises
with London notaries assisting clients
with obtaining country / office specific notarisations and legalisations (consular or
Apostille).
The Hague Conference has been collaborating for several years
with the National Notary Association (NNA) in the United States on the creation and use of an electronic
apostille.
Perhaps — but such access could occur
with the paper - based registers that the Convention has always required of
apostille issuers.
In any case, concerns over increasing secondary uses of personal information by our gov (let alone other govs) is by no means a concern unique to e-apps and, perhaps, it is one that is more salient
with respect to other forms of online interactions that may yield perhaps richer forms of data (although I can see the tracking of
apostille use easily becoming a component of international terrorism investigations, particularly if their use becomes more commonplace).
Further, states party to the Convention were encouraged (at the Sixth International Forum on the E-App in 2010, Conclusions and Recommendations, paragraph 5 (a)-RRB- to issue
apostilles with non-consecutive numbers.
In principle the prospective user of an apostillized document in the destination state can check
with the issuing register to confirm that an
apostille was indeed issued for a particular document.
And even then, the register may be bare bones only,
with no detail about the underlying document to which the
apostille was attached.