Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Land Jason Azzopardi told Parliament yesterday that the Notarial Profession and Notarial Archives Bill aimed to clarify, strengthen and increase the impartiality of the notarial profession in order to safeguard the public interest.

The period of practice prior to the granting of a warrant would also be raised to two years

Introducing the debate on the Bill, Dr Azzopardi said it would regulate the notarial profession. Over the years the duties and responsibilities of notaries had greatly increased; yet legislation had not been updated to reflect this workload. Furthermore, the Notarial Council would now have more power to fight abuse. Those who failed to comply would now be penalised and would risk the suspension of their warrant.

The Bill ensured that notarial acts would now be collected, reviewed and deposited in the National Archive in a relatively short period of time. It would also be changing the requirements needed to become a notary. A person would now have to be a graduate in law in order to be eligible for a warrant. A Notarial Diploma would no longer be sufficient.

The period of practice prior to the granting of a warrant would also be raised to two years. Furthermore, the board of examiners granting warrants would now include a notary proposed by the Notarial Council.

Notaries would now have to be covered by insurance and would need to have a trust account in which money would be deposited. This would ensure that all payments to the government would be passed on.

There would now be a distinction between nullity and validation in order to protect the validity of acts. There would also be a distinction between validation and convalidation. The Bill would now also facilitate the correction of small mistakes in acts such as spelling mistakes.

The current legislation did not clarify the responsibilities carried by notaries with regard to archival research and right of title. This was an essential part of the notarial profession which was, however, not reflected in the legislation.

At present, notaries were not obliged to check that a person selling property was doing so in good faith and to ensure that the right of title had not been interrupted or suspended. Furthermore, the notary was not bound to determine whether a property had been built with all necessary permits and that it did not belong to the government or the joint office. It also did not regulate research regarding payment of sub-emphytheusis.

The public did not have any guarantee that such research was being carried out. The Bill would introduce the necessary legislative structures to regulate archival research. Inland Revenue statistics show there were 8,046 promises of sale and 754 shared transfers last year alone. While, last year, an average of 4,400 hypothecs and other notes were registered at the Public Registry.

Dr Azzopardi said this Bill was proposing a number of new procedures and initiatives. For the first time a notary would have the right to collect documents and give advice upon them when taking up the legal process of examination of title. New regulations as to how this procedure has to take place have been drawn up after consultation with the Notarial Council. These regulations would settle the diligence and responsibility a professional has to adopt when examining a title, he said. There was public interest in having the acts revised on a regular basis and it was a pity there were notaries who have not presented any act for revision during the past 10 years, he said.

The aim of revision is to ensure the acts have been drawn up correctly. Unfortunately Dr Azzopardi said, the present system was not working properly and that is why the revision officials were being introduced. They would have the duty to enact a report after viewing the act and suggest actions to be taken. Further on, Dr Azzopardi ensured testaments would still remain confidential even though they would undergo revision.

Notaries would be informed beforehand when the revision would take place and one would have a time period in which to present them, he said. When a notary does not present the acts, the officials would have the duty to inform the court about this. A number of sanctions would then ensue. First, a temporary inhibition would be enforced and then a notary would lose his or her warrant if they remained in default for a further six months.

Dr Azzopardi said this Bill would also settle the issue of notary’s responsibility at law.