CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION
LEGALISATION OF DOCUMENTS FEE INCREASE
Introduction
This paper recommends a modest increase of £1 from £20 to £21 on the fee charged by the Service for the legalisation of documents. This follows a significant fee increase announced by the United Kingdom.
The paper gives a background explanation of the legalisation of documents in Jersey and the rationale behind the current recommendation for a fee increase.
Background
Legalisation is the official confirmation by a government department that a signature, seal or stamp appearing on a document is genuine. The legal basis for the operation of the service is the Hague Convention of 05 October 1961 “Abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents”. While the title of the Convention suggests that “legalisation” was to be abolished, what was actually introduced was a simplified procedure for authenticating signatures by the universal use of a certificate called an “apostille”. The provision of apostilles affixed to documents is the service that is provided and the process is loosely, though now commonly, referred to as “legalisation”.
The United Kingdom ratified the Convention on 21 August 1964 at the same time extending its application to Jersey. The issue of apostilles for documents originating in Jersey was undertaken by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) until 16 February 1990 when the responsibility for this service was formally transferred to the Lieutenant-Governor. Due to the existing links between the Lieutenant-Governor and the Immigration & Nationality Department, the latter was charged with carrying out this function on behalf of the Lieutenant-Governor. The income generated was to be retained, and the costs of providing the service met, by the States.
There is no Jersey legislation setting out the legalisation fee. From the outset it was accepted that Jersey would charge the same as the FCO and that was the practice since inception of the local service in 1990 until decoupling of the fees in June 2007 when the UK increased their fees substantially from £19 to £27. The FCO is empowered to set fees by Orders made under the Consular Fees Act, 1980, the latest Order being the Consular Fees Order 2009 (SI 2009 No. 700).
The UK fees have been increased sporadically as follows:
16.02.1990 - £8 (existing UK fee at time)
01.12.1994 - £10
14.09.1996 - £12
16.06.2005 - £19
01.04.2007 - £27 (not implemented locally)
09.04.2009 - £28
Prior to 1990 users of the service, mainly finance and legal businesses would have to get documents legalised by post or in urgent cases by more costly personal attendance at the Legalisation Office in London. Thus the provision of the service locally is of substantial advantage to the business community both in terms of time and money.
Fee increase
The Treasury’s Financial Direction 4.1 states that “the prior approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources WILL NOT be required where the average increase in the fee or charge does not exceed the lesser of 2.5% per annum or RPI(X) over the relevant period”. The RPI (X) for the 12 months to December 2007 was 3.2% and for the 12 months to December 2008 was 5.2%.
The proposed increase from £20 to £21 represents an overall increase of 5% over 2 years, or 2.5% for each of the years 2007 and 2008.
Therefore approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources will not be required.
Recommendation
That the fee for legalisation of documents is increased to £21 from 27 July 2009
Michael Robinson
Head of Service
1 July 2009