Bouncing off the bottomless depths
Interview with a president of the Lithuanian Chamber of Notaries, a notary of the Klaipeda City First Notary‘s Office Marius Stračkaitis
“Notariatas“ No. 11/0211
“Notariatas”: This spring ends your three years term of office as a president of LCN. Could you please indicate the most significant administrative activity, done during the period of your service?
Let‘s call it a crisis administration. I was not new in this field when I was elected as a president of the Lithuanian Chamber of Notaries, I had different experience. Up until then, I have been working as an assessor and a notary public for several years, was a member and a vice-president of the Presidium of the Chamber of Notaries. Even though the path of Lithuanian notariat was not strewn with roses, I would consider it as a constant rock-climbing, pursuance of something beautiful and meaningful. And all of a sudden, even though there were signs of warnings, a sudden fall. Survival of a profession as a notary public became an urgent issue. Even though we experienced and lived out a collapse of a soviet planned economy, times of “savage business” and economic anarchy, fall of economic rates for a notary‘s profession were observed as being the fastest and ruthless. During a period of three years – 70 percent decrease in notary‘s income, number of notarial acts declined by 60 percent. Pursuing a survival we, notaries in Klaipeda, as well as our colleagues throughout entire Lithuania were forced to take drastic measures. The Chamber of Notaries was forced to economize on everything; we were made to remain with the most urgent expenses, related to maintenance of vital functions and minimal representation at international institutions of notariat. During 2008–2009 the notariat “bled” as hundreds of qualified employees were fired. Support and benefits for pensioners notaries were painfully refused. Even though those employed methods helped to avoid bankruptcy of notary offices and the Chamber of Notaries, morally it was one of the hardest periods for every notary.
“Notariatas”: Politicians claim that Lithuania has already “bounced off the crisis bottom”. Which way should the notariat turn?
I have always stated publically that in the presence of an economic crisis, notaries shared all possible challenges with people – accepted enforced taxes by the government, faced a problem of unemployment. It is a shame that few years back our voice about upcoming crisis, caused by an extreme liberalism and insufficient regulation, was not heard. We will not be the ones, claiming from a speakers stand “that we knew it all along”, however we are especially conservative profession and will seek to protect our clients against blowing off new „bubbles“. Our responsibility is to worn clients about a danger hidden in extreme indebtedness to banks, responsibility for a family property, importance of income and expenses balance. Such should be applied to the Chamber of Notaries as well. During the crisis we all understood that the Office of the Chamber of Notaries, built upon notaries wishes and vision in Vilnius, on the riverside of Neris, is indeed splendid and prestigious, however, the notariat, during its economic rise, did not consider a necessity of having its own archive of notaries. Fortunately, having successfully sold our previous office, we covered the mortgage for our new chamber. Now, when we hit the bottom, we can catch our breath, as we believe that nothing worse could happen, however we will not forget the lesson learnt. Planning our future, we will be forced to leave all the beauty surrounding the notariat behind, and find methods, which might be reliable and function under any economic conditions.
“Notariatas”: This challenging economic period coincided with a change of Lithuanian political government after the elections of Parliament in 2008. How would you describe a dialog of the Chamber of Notaries, being a professional self-government, with politicians?
Such dialogue is in process and so is good. Politicians of our country, depending on their political views, treat practice of lawyers and jurists differently. Representatives of a legislative body among which many people are competent in laws, tend to speak well-grounded and by such behavior making their decisions they demonstrate responsibility for the country‘s legal system. The best example of such – issue of notary acts’ rates. Amendment of the law of the notariat, initiated in Parliament, establishes that pricing of notary public will be based on criteria valid in European Union countries and Latin notariat in general. Such amendments would stop politicians having a power of a minister to make populist decisions regarding prices of notary public services, behavior of which is useful not to electors, but to groups concerned. Until politicians make a decision in respect to necessity of such amendments, we tend not to forestall political decisions and not comment this issue in public.
“Notariatas”: Are constructive relationships possible with the Ministry of Justice, controlling the practice of the notariat?
This is what we always pursued and seek to pursue in future. Every year during our meetings I submit a report of relationships with authorities to participating members of the Chamber of Notaries. Commenting performance of a previous minister Petras Baguška in the field of notariat and initiative of a current Minister of Justice Remigijus Šimašius, I defined the first as a radical populist, while the latter – radical liberalist. I have always thought that there can be nothing worse that populism, however I realized that uncontrolled liberalism, especially when it is brought in supposedly to defend consumers’ interests is a dangerous battering-ram for the walls of our legal system. Now, we humbly remember a „terror“ of P. Baguška when a minister making no previous notifications would personally arrive at the notary offices, spare comments on representation of an office or even clothing of a notary. I should admit that no matter how much such “terrorism” was unpleasant, it brought positive results. Having visited the majority of notary offices of Lithuania I would be happy to invite guests from abroad. They are well ordered institutions embodying the mission of a law’s supremacy. Totally the opposite – initiative of a current minister, directed not towards facilities and colours of the office walls. Some of them are appreciated and supported by us. Civil law could be innovated and gain advantage from a hypothec reform. A possibility for notaries to enforce an endorsement of the authority in hypothec deals, being certified by notaries, would increase work load and responsibility (which we are not afraid of). It is satisfying that having a well-grounded discussion with initiators of hypothec reform project and the Ministry of Justice it was possible to convince them that it is not beneficial to reject a mandatory notarial form in cases of a mortgage. This ensures a better protection of contractual parties’ interests. Such bundle of draft laws together with the previously mentioned amendments of Notariat Law settled in the rooms of Parliament and future of such depends on a will of politicians. There were also cases of not so successful initiatives. Upon a request of the ministry, the Chamber of Notaries performed an analysis about services of the Civil Registry Office in Lithuania. We determined that handover of functions of the Civil Registry Office would save millions of litas for the tax payers. We offered to consider a handover of cases of divorce in absence of a dispute, having in mind that such functions are already implemented by the notaries of Latvia and Estonia. We submitted arguments stating that legalization of a divorce procedure with the notary would not have any impact on divorce statistics. Our arguments were not sufficient and the Ministry of Justice, trying to avoid a conflict with a church, left this initiative out of consideration. A review of lawyers’ functions, initiated by the minister, also gave no results. Therefore, I should say that there were plenty of opportunities to meet, session, discuss, argue with the Ministers of Justice during the past three years. Presidium of the Chamber of Notaries and lawyers wasted a whole lot of their energy, however, let‘s ask ourselves rhetorically, whether all of that went the right direction? We dream of times when the Chamber of Notaries will be concerned only with the issues necessary – improvement of notaries’ activities organization and service quality and notary training courses.
“Notariatas”: In July of 2009, a Public Electronic Service of the Real Estate Transactions (PESRET) was started to be implemented, the notariat entered the field of electronic services. Knowing the efforts it took to develop this system, does it meet the expectations of consumers: notaries and their clients?
Such systems as PESRET, or similar ones such as Electronic Services of Registration of Legal Entities (ESRLE) and Registration of Hypothec and Mortgage Service (RHMS), intended for registration of legal entities and hypothec transactions, are inevitable. The problem that the Chamber of Notaries faces is that a decade ago, we did not anticipate such a huge step ahead in the field of information technologies and development of such systems was not initiated by us. One year and a half passed since PESRET has been implemented in bureaus and this system has been used by the majority of notaries. Some of them became experts of PESRET, while others just connect to the system to order and download necessary registry certificates for transactions. I will repeat myself: the system is not user friendly and not easy to use for a consumer, is still unreliable; however there is no alternative to it. The more frequent notaries use PESRET, the faster the Center of Registers, being the one who initiated the project, and its contractor will eliminate the flaws. Having learnt our lesson from the development process of PESRET system, when notaries almost until the last phase had only an advisory role, we are more active and determined in the process of ESRLE development.
“Notariatas”: Where is the guarantee that other acting entities will not proceed with implementation of new electronic initiatives, which are directly related to the notariat?
There are no such guarantees, therefore there is no time for waiting. We started with relatively small tasks, however they are still significant. Upon a request of the Chamber of Notaries, a unique file management system has been developed. All made, received and sent documents will be electronically managed and properly archived. It will be possible to track the process of each document‘s creation, supplementation and amendment, assign tasks to employees and supervise their performance. I would compare it with “Avilys”, a system, implemented in public offices, however ours is specially adapted to the needs of the Chamber of Notaries. In compliance with the up-to-date functionality requirements, we updated the inner website of the Chamber of Notaries. Notaries and other employees of the bureau will easily find information starting from 2003; a flexible and effective system of documents search functions as well. Soon we will transfer all e-mail accounts of the notaries into our servers. We will also update the external website of the Chamber of Notaries, where videos will be displayed. However, this is just the beginning. We introduced our vision of e-notariat to various experts, working in the fields of information technologies. Our goal is not only to create an electronic notary book, but also to integrate it with electronically performed task, preserving the role of a notary. Without waiting for consequences to return as a boomerang for previously made rash politicians’ decisions regarding simplification of entities registration, we state that legal control of a notary should remain even though entire „life“ will be transferred to electronic space. It is obvious that during the period of past several years, ways to safely identify a person have increased – such are electronic banking, electronic signature and other methods. Registers also made a huge step ahead. This grants an opportunity to gradually transfer notarial acts into electronic space, however, it is important to retain a direct contact between a notary and his client. We should head towards e-notariat very deliberately, however determined. The next step – prepare a strategy for e-notariat. The extent of its implementation will depend on legal and e-society processes and resources will be sought in the funds of European Union. Taking future in consideration I do not reject a possibility that in a few years a client will sign the document not on a hard copy, but on a screen of a tablet PC.
“Notariatas”: How does the Lithuanian notariat appears in the context of International Notary Organizations?
I should admit that due to our economizing, being unable to attend the majority of international notariat forums, we lost a lot. We not only missed a chance of talking to our foreign colleagues, but also missed a chance of hearing plenty of relevant information. In such occasions, when we were able to attend the meetings (we set a rule, that we cannot miss events of the Council of the Notariats of the European Union and European Affairs Commission (CAE) of the International Union of Notaries), we would return rich in our knowledge. European and Global Notariat as if constantly finding new affirmation for Latin notariat importance of principles, is expanding. In 2010 alone, International Union of Notariat accepted five new members. Continental law being developed throughout centuries, which we cherish as well, proves each day as being more superior than a common law. Latin notaries establish and expand even in Anglo-Saxon countries. Our complaints about attempts of liberal politicians to “liberalize” the Lithuanian notariat are understood by a majority of colleagues in Europe and Latin America: every more liberal government seeks to move foundation of Latin notariat. “Oh, we have seen those, – colleagues from Europe revealed more than once. – However life proves that some initiatives are temporary, while the Latin notariat is still alive.” During the last Congress of International Notaries in Marrakesh, notaries of the African country Burkina Faso also complained about government’s attempt to liberalize and base the notaries’ rates on the expenses. Currently, I try not to miss an opportunity to mention this issue while being among our lawyers and representatives of a government. The International Notariat, especially our permanent supporters from Germany, Switzerland identified with us and very attentively responded to a call for help regarding the initiative to relate the rates of notary services with expenses, sent their representatives, arguments of which were heard by the Lithuanian politicians, however the initiative got „frozen“. Together with notaries of Koblenz city in Germany we brought juridical colloquium back to life and during this event in Vilnius we brought attention of authorities and jurist communities to such issues as European Contract Law, 28th legal treatment and others. International Forums of Notaries discuss about e-notariat, ethics of notaries, up-to-date organization of work and even ecology. How to minimize expenses for paper and electricity at the notary bureaus thus reducing not only labour expenses, but also improving ecological state? This significant topic of discussion at current notaries’ forum, I am sure, will reach us as well.