E-Apostile for Georgia

Project Vision

May 2016

Giorgi Lobjanidze David Gabulia

Giorgi.Lobjanidze@sda.gov.ge d.gabunia@sda.gov.ge
 www.icmpd.org www.enigmma.ge

Enhancing Georgias Migration Management

ENIGMMA
Workshop on introduction of e-Apostille in
Georgia
25 - 26 November, 2015

EU Delegation to Georgia ICMPD Representatives to Georgia

Ketevan Khutsishvili Violeta Wagner
Zurab Korganashvili
Natia Mechitishcvili
 Special Thanks to:
Michael Lightowler HCCH Hague
Conference Team
M ICHAEL L IGHTOWLER L L B
N OTARY P UBLIC Brody Warren
www.notaryservices.co.uk Thomas John ACIArb

Steve Roylance Peter Reichstdter

Strategic Projects Director
Parliament of Austria CIO (Profile)
GlobalSign
www.globalsign.com www.globalsign.eu TWINNING Project - A Digital Georgia - e-
Georgia strategy and action plan 2014-2018 Co
Author;
Migration Statistics Analytical System for Georgia
Expert;

Ms. Shannan Wong

The leader of Authentication Unit. (Profile)

The Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua

(New Zeeland).
http://www.dia.govt.nz
What we Have
 Designated Authorities Recognized by Hague Conference:

1. LEPL National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement

Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia
Documents issued by the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia and the
bodies of its system as well as the documents of the educational institutions issued
within their competence.

2. LEPL Service Agency Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia

Documents issues by Service Agency.

3. LEPL Public Service Development Agency (PSDA)

Ministry of Justice of Georgia
Public documents which do not refer to the competence of the abovementioned
authorities. *

* From 01.2016 PSDA takes responsibility Apostile / Legislation for all Documents issued
by Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia (Above) Next Slide >>>
 3 PSDA Main Factors
1. First - It is noteworthy that as of September 2016, documents issued by the Ministry of
Education and Science of Georgia (MoES) and its respective bodies, as well as documents
issued by educational institutions within their competencies will become subject to
legalization and apostillisation by the Public Service Development Agency of the Ministry of
Justice of Georgia. As a result, all documents, (except the Certificate of Previous Conviction
falling under the competence of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Georgia) issued in Georgia
will be verified solely by the Public Service Development Agency of MoJ (PSDA)*.
2. Second - The formation of an electronic document (including e-APP) and its issuance will be
based on the certificates generated by the Public Service Development Agency. PSDA thus is
the only institution in this field in Georgia.
3. Third - An electronic document, including e-APP is a highly secure document protected
against fraud, verification of which can be easily and timely done through open electronic
channels, in line with the Hague Convention and EU standards (Regulation (EU) No
910/2014). Thus implementation of the e-APP system is indeed tightly linked to the VLAP
(Visa Liberalization Action Plan for Georgia) agenda, especially as this relates to document
security and control benchmarks.

* Hague Conference Team welcome the fact that, the PSDA will be
taking responsibility for the Apostile / legalization of educational
documents. the Ministry of Education will continue to conduct a
validation process for these documents and signatures, verifying
their origin as well as their content.
The information kept in the Apostille Register
Information on the document
1. Type/name of the document

2. Number of the document

1 2 3

3. Date of the document

4. Name of the person signing

the document

5. Name of the authority

4 whose seal/stamp is affixed

6. Capacity of person signing

the document
5

6
Information from 4th, 5th and 6th fields is reflected on Apostille.

7
The information kept in the Apostille Register

1. Apostille number

2. Apostille Date

3. Name of the signing person

4.Capacity of the signing person

5. The name of the authority

whose seal/stamp the document
bears

6. Image of Apostille and the

underlying document
Database of the stamps/seals of the competent authorities and signatures of
authorized persons
- More than 2100 entries containing the sample seals/stamps.
- More than 3200 entries containing the sample signatures.

Information in the database is permanently updated.

9
 Issuing e-Apostille

e-Apostille

E-Register Citizens WEB Portal

my.gov.ge

Any interested person

Applicant

Visually checking e-Apostille

(authentication not required) Downloading e-Apostille
(authentication required)
 E-Register at present
Search Criteria on the web (Linked to the Apostile Hague Conference Official Site):
https://www.hcch.net
http://apostille.cra.ge

The unique number

Date of issue of
Apostille

CAPTCHA
 Existing Apostile System Conclusions
The Procedure of certifying the documents exceeds the scopes of
simple visual checking of the document (For issued by government
Public documents issued by MoJustice, MoHealth and MoEducation);
The database of the signatures, seals/stamps is updated permanently;
The Apostille certificate (not digitally signed) corresponds to the
International Standards;
Georgia among 16 member states of Apostille Convention operating
E-Register;
E-register provides visual checking of an Apostille and underlying
public document - (PDF versions):
http://www.hcch.net
http://apostille.cra.ge
Document Search criteria: unique number generated randomly and
date of issue of Apostille - to avoid fishing expedition;
Project - E-apostille in Georgia was published in the PSDA Strategic
Plan - http://www.sda.gov.ge/?page_id=7545&lang=en;
 CA, PKI, eID and Digital Certificates

1. CA and PKI Infrastructure EJBCA Platform PKI is in production from 2012.

2. Project - Georgian CA/PKI registration in the Worldwide trusted lists is in progress;
3. Issued Georgian eID Cards (1.8 M from 4 M Citizens Population for 01.10.2015)
contains 2 Digital Certificates for Identification and Digital signatures;
4. Certificates Issued by Georgian Certificate Authority Center (CA).
5. Project - E-APP in Georgia published in the PSDA Strategic Plan -
http://www.sda.gov.ge/?page_id=7545&lang=en
 eNotary Georgian Notary Registry
https://notary.reestri.gov.ge/public/Welcome.do
 Legislation

compliance to international Standards

 eDocument - Legislation
Law of Georgia - On Electronic Signatures and Electronic Documents

This law defines legal foundations of using electronic signatures and

electronic documents (Details in the next Slide).

Status: Ready for Government Discussions and Parliament of Georgia

Approval

Compliance of the draft law with EU Directives

The adoption of the draft law aims at harmonization of existing legal base with EU
legislation. In particular, the proposed version of the draft law reflects all novelties
that were developed within the framework of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification
and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing
Directive 1999/93/EC.
 Law of Georgia - On Electronic Signatures and Electronic Documents
(Resume from Draft version)
Article 1. Purpose and Scope

1. This law defines legal foundations of using electronic signatures and electronic documents.
Comment: The existing law regulates the procedures for using electronic signatures and electronic documents in electronic documents management systems,
while the new law eliminates this limitation and applies to the cases when electronic documents management system is not used in records management.
2. The state ensures implementation of electronic signature security policy within the scope of this law.
3. This law does not apply to those types of information which are recognized as national security information and are subject to state protection under the Georgian
legislation.

a.c) Main concept of the draft law

This draft law determines the issues of using electronic signatures and electronic documents. In particular:
The proposed version allows broader spreading of electronic documents and electronic signatures nationwide, because unlike the existing law which obliges courts
only not to refuse to accept electronic documents, this draft law practically obliges all parties (public authorities, legal entities of private law or natural persons) not
to refuse to accept electronic documents for the only reason that they are not submitted in hardcopy (paper print).

The proposed draft law to the maximum extent corresponds to the EU legislation EU Directive 1999/93/EC and Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing
Directive 1999/93/EC, namely, it introduces concepts of qualified electronic signature, signature creation data, signature validation data, trust service provider, etc.
One of the most important novelties of the proposed draft law is a legal regulation of time stamps and especially, qualified time stamps. Qualified time stamping
allows for reliable verification of existence of a document or an electronic signature affixed thereto at a specific point in time, and, thus, enables determination of
validity or invalidity of a qualified electronic signature including cases when a considerable period of time has passed from the moment the signature was affixed. If
this service is used correctly, the mentioned period of time may be decades or centenaries which, on its part, is an important precondition for archiving so called
digital born documents.
As to the archiving, the draft law also regulates the issue of electronic copies of electronic documents.

Compliance of the draft law with EU Directives

The adoption of the draft law aims at harmonization of existing legal base with EU legislation. In particular, the proposed version of the draft law reflects all novelties
that were developed within the framework of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic
identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC.

e) Author of the draft law

Legal Entity of Public Law Public Service Development Agency and Legal Entity of Public Law Document Exchange Agency acting under the jurisdiction of the Ministry
of Justice of Georgia.
 eApostile System

Considerations about future system

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS of the 9th International Forum on the e-APP
(9 and 10 October 2014) published by The Hague Conference Team:

The electronic Apostille Program (e-APP) in general

1. The participants noted that approximately 180 Competent Authorities from 22 Contracting States have
already implemented one or both components of the e-APP.
2. They particularly welcomed the jurisdictions that have joined the e-APP since the 2013 Montevideo Forum,
namely Bahrain, China (Hong Kong), Paraguay, the United Kingdom and two states of Mexico: Federal District
and Jalisco. In addition, participants congratulated those States that are progressing with the implementation
of one or both components of the e-APP, such as the introduction of an eRegister by the Ministry of Justice of
the Russian Federation, and the issuance of e-Apostilles in Georgia and Bahrain.
Materials from: http://www.hcch.net/upload/e-app2012_fo_pres_cb.pdf
Paper vs electronic Apostile
New Zeeland Experience Presentation Permission provided by Issuer
 Topics to be Clarified
1. eApostile Document Format
1. Human Readable Component;
2. Machine Readable Component;
3. Georgian Digital Certificate (CA/PKI Enviroment) and its
integration to the International Comunity
2. Legislation
1. Legislation Compliance to EU and Apostile Hague
Conference standards;
2. Georgian e-Apostile Recognition
3. Georgian e-Apostile Recognition
4. By Hague Conference Member;
3. More and More .
 Giorgi Lobjanidze
Head of Project Management and Business Analysis Division.
Research and Development Department

Public Service Development Agency . Ministry of Justice of Georgia

giorgi.Lobjanidze@sda.gov.ge
(+995) 577 613434