The Hague Apostille Convention of 1961 simplifies the authentication of public documents to be used internationally. An Apostille is a standardized certification placed on certain public documents that verifies their origin for use in another country that is also a signatory. India has acceded to the Convention, and as of 2007 the Ministry of External Affairs issues Apostilles for documents like birth certificates that need to be used abroad after being authenticated locally. Over 70 countries have joined the Apostille Convention to facilitate the use of their public documents across borders.