Shortly before 5th anniversary of the notary profession in Serbia, Justice Minister Ms Nela Kuburović met with the chief representative for International Relations of the Notary Chamber of the Federal Republic of Germany Mr Richard Bok to discuss the improvement of the notary system in Serbia, as well as further cooperation between Serbia and Germany in that field.
Minister Kuburović and Mr Bok recalled how the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia and the notary public chambers of Serbia and Germany had signed a Cooperation Protocol in September 2018 intended to enhance the work of notaries through sharing of experiences and examples of good practice.
Discussing development and improvement of the notary system in Serbia, the Justice Minister pointed out that in the previous three years, the Ministry of Justice had put great efforts in IT development in order to enable notaries to access electronic registers of other government institutions which contain the necessary information for them to work efficiently.
Minister Kuburović said that the Amendments to the Cadastre Registration Act had made a notary’s office a one-stop-shop for citizens and commerce since the entire real-estate acquisition procedure and registration with the cadastre was being conducted in one place. “In this way, on the one hand, a control system has been set up to prevent double sales of the same real-estate, and on the other, such a system has led to great time-saving for both citizens and commerce, which has further led to cost reductions.
Minister Kuburović stressed that notaries also played a major role in preventing money laundering and the detection of potential illegal activities, as they were obliged to notify the competent authorities of suspicious transactions and arrangements.
Mr Bok praised the work of the Serbian notaries and the Notary Chamber of Serbia and said that the results and the advancement of the notary profession since its introduction were clear. He emphasised that the greatest challenges Germany’s notary was facing concerned personal data protection and commercial law – topics which he said would be good for the exchange of experiences and practices between Germany and Serbia.
At the end of the meeting, Minister Kuburović said that the Ministry of Justice had partner relations with the Notary Chamber of Serbia, which had been deemed a necessary condition for the further development and advancement of the profession, all with the aim of strengthening legal certainty