The Bulgarian Ministry of Justice issues apostilles for public documents drawn up by an authority or official connected with the administration of justice. This includes court acts and documents issued by prosecutors, court clerks or process servers, as well as notarial deeds and official notarial certifications.
Typical examples are court judgments, certificates and certified court copies, criminal-record certificates, notarial deeds, notarized powers of attorney and declarations, and official certifications of a date or signature on a private document. The decisive factor is the origin of the act and the official capacity of the signatory. Intended use abroad does not by itself make every document eligible for an apostille from the Ministry of Justice.
A court document is normally submitted as an original or a duly certified copy. It must allow the court, date, signatures and seal to be verified. For notarial documents, the notary, the type of certification and the recorded particulars are checked.
For a power of attorney concerning the disposal of real estate, the notary certifies both the signature and the content. Two separate apostilles are therefore affixed to the two certifications. A power of attorney for the same purpose certified by a mayor or municipal secretary is not apostilled by the Ministry of Justice under this procedure.
A notarized copy of a document issued by a medical institution may also fall within the Ministry's competence because the apostille authenticates the notarial certification of the copy. This does not mean that every medical report or discharge summary is apostilled directly by the Ministry.
Educational records, documents issued by municipal administrations and other administrative acts have different competent authorities. Depending on the issuer, an apostille may be issued by NACID, a regional administration or the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The applicable route also depends on the country where the document will be presented.
La Fit Trans can assess the complete set and identify the applicable originals, certified copies, notarial certifications, translations and apostilles. Translation and official authentication remain separate services, but they can be coordinated in one order with a defined price, timing and delivery method.
Official information: Bulgarian Ministry of Justice — https://www.justice.government.bg/home/index/405477f9-ca92-4a86-8e35-6a117d8c862f and the apostille register — https://apostil.mjs.bg/.