Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thailand apparently signing on to the Hague Convention regarding Apostilles. So what we're talking about here is certification of documentation, and let me just jump in. This announcement came from the Thai Government itself, Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, mfa.go.th. Press Release titled: Thailand's Accession to the Apostille Convention. Quoting directly: "On 9 December 2025, the Cabinet passed the resolution approving Thailand accession to the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, which is one of the key conventions under the framework of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). Accession to this Convention will help reduce procedures and costs related to document legalization, thereby providing greater convenience for members of the public and the business sector necessitating document legalization. The Ministry will proceed to deposit the instrument of accession with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, in its capacity as the depository of the Convention, in order for the Convention to enter into force for Thailand. The success of this accession is the result of the work driven by the Sub-committee on the consideration of Accession to the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. This body is chaired by Ambassador Vilawan Mangklatanakul and operates under the National Committee on the Implementation of Thailand's membership to the HCCH, chaired by the Minister of Justice." And this is from 18 December, 2025.

So while this has not yet come online, we are frankly anticipating it imminently here in the office and exactly what it means remains to be seen as a practical matter. What we do know is it's going to mean, there's going to be a whole - well presumably, presumably - I have to be honest, if I sound a little cynical over the years I have found when changes like this happen, it is always touted as "oh, everything's going to get more convenient and easier to deal with" and it's just a different bureaucracy sometimes. 

That being said, presumably this will streamline many things associated with certification of documentation - both in Thailand and when Thailand is using documentation from other jurisdictions. That being said, it remains to be brought fully online as of the time of this video. We will certainly be keeping folks updated on this channel as the situation evolves, but understand, until it comes online, we are still dealing with the "old" if you will system. So I imagine there will be a few learning curves and hiccups as we go along and start to transition into this. 

That said, I think overall this is probably a good thing, especially for businesses and things that have to deal with things internationally. Not having to deal with a lot of rigmarole purely for the purpose of certifying documentation, could be advantageous in many ways for business here in the Kingdom of Thailand.