OREANDA-NEWS. March 18, 2013. “Notaries and competition are compatible”, states the Antimonopoly Service by making amendments to the draft Law “On Notaries and Notarial Activities in the Russian Federation”.

In its letter to the Ministry of Justice, FAS proposes to extend the state powers to carry out inspections and the authorized bodies to file lawsuits on imposing sanctions and divesting notaries of their special status in order to efficiently regulate, control and supervise notaries and in view of the significant social importance of notarial activities.

FAS underlines the need to restore a system of public notaries in the Russian Federation which would ensure availability of notarial services in low populated and hard-to-reach areas.

FAS also addresses the issue of changing an approach for accumulating material resources for social support of particular categories of population. To compensate the costs of services rendered to the persons entitled to benefits, notaries should have professional tax deductions amounting to the lost earnings in order to avoid intentionally fixing unreasonably high tariffs for other clients.

According to FAS, it is unacceptable and incorrect to reduce notaries’ civil liability in all cases only to misconduct and to compensate only property damage. The harm caused must be compensated in full.

“A very important issue seems to be “admittance to the profession”: clarity and transparency of recruiting notaries”, commented the Head of FAS Analytical Department Alexey Sushkevich. “Under no circumstances “admittance to the profession” can be decided by the association of notaries. The state must regulate it on the basis of strict anonymous testing, and verification of business standing and professional reputation of a candidate. It is also important to take into account one’s personal qualities”.

Apart from this, the Antimonopoly Service provides explanations with regard to the proposed unified charging for notary services across all regions of the Russian Federation, the list of legal and technical services provided in the course of notarial actions, administrative liability of notaries and other authorized persons for unreasonable refusals to exercise notarial actions as well as for extortion and imposing services upon clients.