Electronic Apostilles to Be Introduced in Lithuania

From 1 October 2026, notaries in Lithuania will be entitled to issue electronic apostilles. The decision was approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, endorsing a proposal by the Ministry of Justice of Lithuania to establish a legal framework for the issuance of electronic apostilles.

Under the new regulation, electronic apostilles will be issued exclusively by notaries for documents signed with a qualified electronic signature and (or) certified with a qualified electronic seal. The procedure for paper apostilles will remain unchanged and will continue to be carried out by both notaries and consular officers.

Documents certified with electronic apostilles will be processed through e.Notaras, the information system administered by the Lithuanian Chamber of Notaries, which already enables the creation, storage, and management of electronic documents.

In 2024, consular officers issued 375 apostilles, while notaries issued more than 25,000. In view of this distribution, the issuance of electronic apostilles has been entrusted exclusively to notaries.