Lithuanian notaries, prepared for remote work, turn to government for endorsement

Lithuanian notaries are prepared to perform most notarial acts remotely and they had submitted proposals to the government to that end even before the pandemic was announced.

“The coronavirus pandemic that has limited the possibility for many people to deal with their matters directly has driven us again to put forward proposals for notaries to perform most acts remotely. The technological solutions are in place however the regulatory framework requires some changes. We have already submitted our proposals in this regard to the Ministry of Justice, and the emergency has shown that such proposals must be considered and implemented with all seriousness”, says Marius Stračkaitis, President of the Chamber of Notaries of Lithuania and Notary of Klaipėda.

According to him, once the right for notaries to perform notarial acts remotely by electronic means is established in the law, certain notarial acts would be performed remotely initially and the list would be extended later.

M. Stračkaitis expressed that the following acts could be performed by notaries remotely: attesting transfer and acceptance deeds of immovables, applications for ending a mortgage or pledge, as well as attesting refusal of a mortgage or pledge and powers of attorney, certifying the authenticity of signatures in documents, issuing certificates of succession and entitlement to a share in community property, attesting the authenticity of information contained in documents supplied to the Register of Legal Entities and certifying documents of incorporation of legal persons, protesting bills of exchange and cheques, making executive inscriptions on protested and non-protestable bills of exchange and cheques, drafting transactions, providing legal advice, authenticating translations of documents from one language to another, certifying documents with an Apostille, issuing electronic copies and extracts of documents certifying their authentication, and other acts.

These and other notarial acts would be performed remotely via the information system eNotaras, and the parties to a transaction would sign the contract with qualified electronic signatures. Notaries would remotely identify individuals and explain the meaning and consequences of such notarial acts via a safe platform that supports both videoconferencing and personal identification. A notary, via his or her qualified electronic signature, would certify a contract signed with the parties’ electronic signatures and register the notarial act in a digital register that is currently installed and used by notaries within the eNotaras information system.

The Lithuanian Chamber of Notaries has its used own funds to develop the eNotaras system, without relying on either taxpayers’ or European Union money.