The new rules for notarial procedures

Pepeliaev Group advises that new rules for notaries’ practice have been adopted and should now be taken into consideration when turning to notaries for notarial procedures.

The legislature’s intention is that the new Rules for Notarial Procedures (the “Rules”)[1] should bring order to and improve the quality of procedures performed by notaries.

The Rules have established the scope of the information to be requested by a notary to perform notarial procedures and the way such information should be recorded. It sets out an exhaustive list of the information that may be requested by a notary in order to perform each of notarial procedures. The new rules should provide a positive effect on the practice of involving of notaries in various transactions, and, finally, standardise the notaries’ requirements for the set of documents requested by them.

At the same time as part of the certification of transactions notaries are now obliged not only to verify parties’ ownership title and their legal competence but, among other things, to make sure the parties to the transaction are not undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. Another example of a notary’s check of a party to a transaction may be their obligation to obtain information regarding the marital status of a party (or the representative of a party) to a transaction when transactions involve individuals.

The adopted Rules are intended not only to promote standardised requirements for information requested by notaries but also to enhance the level of protection for the transactions executed by a notary and other notarial procedures.

Implications for companies

Taking into consideration the obligation of all notaries public to request a clearly defined scope of the information which is partially provided to competent state authorities upon their request it is safe to say that in certain circumstances (for example, when an individual is a party to a transaction, or an individual represents a party to the transaction) the time required for the notarial certification of the transaction may be extended.

The little practical experience that has accumulated since the beginning of 2018 shows that in some cases when one plans to sign, for example, sale and purchase agreements for a (membership) share in a Russian Limited liability company, an additional 3 to 5 days should be allowed for the notary to obtain the information regarding the signatories or the parties to the transaction.