1. FUNCTIONS AND ROLE OF THE NOTARY.
The Notary is a public official, as such super partes (meaning that he guarantees equal protection to all parties involved), to whom the State delegates two main tasks: granting public faith to deeds and collecting taxes for economically relevant activities and transactions.
This involves carrying out a very delicate activity, with which almost every citizen has to deal with during their life: buying property, taking out a mortgage, ensuring the generational transfer of real estate and businesses, making or publishing a will, establishing companies, regulating various financial relationships.
To perform this role, the State requires the Notary to have a high level of legal knowledge, guaranteed by passing a public competition managed directly by the Ministry of Justice, and subjects the Notary to continuous controls carried out by State bodies.
To ensure impartiality, the Notary must protect the interests of all parties involved with the same intensity, regardless of who has given him the mandate; he must also refrain whenever he finds himself in a conflict of interest with the parties involved (for example, when family members are involved in the deed) and therefore perform a function of preventive legality control.
Thanks to the controls carried out by the Notary in Italy, there is virtually no litigation over real estate transactions (only 0.003% creates litigation), which is why many speak of the "anti-litigation function of the Notary" and our system is being studied by various countries that do not adopt the so-called "Latin notariat" model.
No less delicate is the role that the Notary plays in implementing control in anti-money laundering matters: he must, in fact, provide customer identification, identify the ultimate beneficial owner of the operation, collect information about the origin of the money used for a specific operation, and report any suspicious transactions to the competent authorities. According to data provided by the Guardia di Finanza, about 90% of reports of suspicious transactions transmitted by professionals come from notaries, although all are subject to reporting obligations.
This aspect also shows how the Notary is not only serving citizens but also assisting institutions in legality control.
2. IMPORTANCE OF THE TRUST RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CITIZEN, COMPANY, AND NOTARY.
Given the role of the Notary and the impact that the activity performed by him has on the lives of individuals and businesses, it would be extremely appropriate for everyone to choose their own trusted Notary to entrust the difficult and delicate task of identifying the correct path to implement their will regarding various personal and professional events that concern them.
It is the Notary's task to investigate the will of the parties and project it into facts and law, within the limits provided by the law and with all the necessary protections; for this reason, we must dispel the false myth (in negative terms) of the Notary who merely signs after others have filled in pre-prepared forms that are the same for everyone.
Each notarial deed is unique, and each situation must be carefully and directly examined by the Notary after a thorough analysis of the elements that characterize the case.