House approves changes to Public Registry and Notarial Archives Acts

Records could be removed from the notarial archives for cultural, scientific or forensic use, according to a new Bill unanimously approved by the House on Monday.

Introducing the Various Laws (Registry and Notarial Archives) Amendment Bill, Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi said it proposed small amendments regarding the notarial profession, particularly the Notarial Archives. Although the amendments did not regard the notarial profession per se, in the near future he would be piloting another Bill to address needs of changes to update the law.

It was shameful to hear of a lack of ethical behaviour by a small minority of notaries who were short-changing the vast majority who really cared for their clients, Dr Azzopardi said.

There had been cases where a client had paid up taxes and duties to notaries who had misappropriated the money. The Bill would lead to greater protection for clients of notaries, who were people trusted with public funds.

Certain recent court decisions had overturned long-held standards of the notarial profession. The Bill was giving the profession higher value.

An amendment to the Civil Code was making the Director of Public Registry the only competent person representing the department, although he could delegate his judiciary representation to subordinates.

Another amendment was two-pronged. More coordination was needed among notaries, whether they were employed by the Land Department, Mepa, the Public Registry or other entities, who currently did not answer to the Government Notary Public.

Deployment of notaries would henceforth be interchangeable according to departmental needs through the notarial stream. Consolidation would also allow for uniform training, irrespective of which department a notary worked in. The government was after a sectorial arrangement for the legal class. The Bill was replacing any reference to different notaries with reference to a single entity.

Dr Azzopardi said the second leg of the Bill’s amendments was less technical, but bore an aspect of culture. When the Bill was enacted, documents could be taken out of the Notarial Archives for not more than 20 days at a time for cultural, scientific or forensic purposes, something the current legislation did not accept.

In 1640, Grand Master Lascaris had set up the notarial archives, which currently held over 15,000 documents. They constituted the national memory and their contents should be researched more deeply and completely. If this were done, substantial parts of Maltese history would be rewritten.

The Notarial Archives received all deeds published by local notaries. There were also all contracts published by government notaries, with originals and copies kept in two separate locations. They were a collection of Malta’s social, economic, public and private life, including trading in slaves.

Dr Azzopardi said that following special court permission, a number of documents had been put on public view for last September’s Notte Bianca, and more than 3,000 people had viewed them in one evening.

The government’s ultimate aim was to set up a national exhibition of documents in an appropriate place to whet an appetite for historical records.

He paid tribute to the impressive dedication of a group of volunteers on the Council for Research in the Notarial Archives with the identification, classification, cataloguing and conservation of documents.

A number of volumes had been found that were believed lost. The Ministry of Finance too came in for praise for its outlay for rehabilitation.

The government was also working on greater visibility of the Notarial Archives for the appreciation of foreign experts. A pilot digitisation project had been started to preserve documents dating back to the 16th century and allow worldwide study thereof by internet.

Comments to date by foreign delegations who considered Malta’s Notarial Archives as among the richest in the Mediterranean made one proud to be Maltese. But real pride could only come out of awareness.

The Bill would be giving teeth to the Notarial Council and the Revision Court, that could lead to the suspension of erring notaries. Revision of deeds by retired judges and lawyers would be facilitated by no longer restricting such revision to the premises of the Notarial Archives. This in turn would be a further help to addressing more issues and increasing protection to the public.

Opposition spokesman on economic development, Charles Mangion said the Bill would centralise the work of notaries within the public sector. They had an important function in governmental entities such as the housing authority, the public registry and the land registry. It was they who brought to the Exchequer some €100 million in taxes.The Central Registry Bill, together with a more extensive Bill, were in the offing. The transition from one system to another was a very complicated one, Dr Mangion said.

He addressed the issue of absolute title and said that a person buying property needed to know if certain conditions existed. It was the notary’s responsibility to ensure that all important details be registered in the Public Registry or the Lands Registry.

The opposition agreed that the Notarial Archives had to be protected and kept in good shape. Original documents taken out of the archives should be returned as soon as possible to ensure they were properly conserved.

Concluding, Dr Mangion said that the Bill was a positive one since it facilitated the work of notaries in the public sector who were being given more responsibility. He noted with satisfaction that in the MFSA’s revision of trust, notaries were given a trustworthy role.

Dr Beppe Fenech Adami (PN) said the Bill aimed at providing for more accessibility of notarial archives to the public while defining the functions of the office of the government notary in a better way.

There was yet no culture where one appreciated better the value of archival deeds that constituted the written history of the country. Everyone had the duty to facilitate things to researchers to carry out their work with full cooperation and least expense.

The setting up of the national archives council led to a legal structure and framework where the national archives were given due attention. These archives needed continuous maintenance and conservation of documents. He called on the authorities to explore the possibility of tapping EU funds for conservation of documents and staff training. He said that there were other important archives in Malta.

Dr Fenech Adami also called for a quality leap on the procedural system, on the issue of prescription and on the term of the validity of the power of attorney.

He called on the Parliamentary Secretary to see whether the period of time given for the public use of notarial archive documents for cultural, scientific and forensic reason could be extended.

Winding up the debate, Dr Azzopardi said he was open to persuasion on whether this period of time could be lengthened.

After mentioning the commitment that government notaries showed in their work, Dr Azzopardi said that a new Bill was being drafted to regulate better the profession.