The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, at its session held on December 26, 2022. adopted the Law on Confirmation of the Agreement on Legal and Judicial Cooperation in Civil and Commercial Matters between the Republic of Serbia and the United Arab Emirates (“Agreement“). The Agreement entered into force on April 13, 2023.
Article 23, paragraph 1 of the Agreement states that public documents drafted or issued in the specified format by a court, another competent authority, or an individual acting in capacity of public authority from one party, and bearing a signature and an official seal, do not require additional authentication for use before the authorities of the other party. Similarly, no further certification of private documents is necessary if they have been authenticated by a court, another competent authority, or an individual acting in capacity of public authority.
In Paragraph 2 of the aforementioned article, it is specified that the provisions outlined in Paragraph 1 also extend to copies of public and private documents authenticated by a court, another competent authority, or an individual acting in capacity of public authority.
However, during the implementation of the Agreement, it turned out that the competent authorities of the United Arab Emirates interpreted the mentioned article more narrowly, considering that the exemption from legalization applies only to documents that are used in judicial and enforcement proceedings, while for documents that are not used in said proceedings “full legalization”, i.e. diplomatic-consular authentication is required.
Contrary to the interpretation of the competent authorities of the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia is of the opinion that the subject article of the Agreement should be interpreted in a broader sense, that is, that the exemption from legalization applies to all documents.
Following further consultations between the pertinent authorities of the Republic of Serbia and the United Arab Emirates, the interpretation provided by the competent authorities of the United Arab Emirates has been acknowledged. It has been informally agreed that for documents not intended for judicial or enforcement proceedings, “full legalization” is mandatory.
