Regulations

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Regulations

To become a Notary, it is necessary to have obtained a Law Degree and completed the prescribed period of notarial practice. Below are the steps of the process and the relevant regulations.

1. NOTARIAL PRACTICE

The requirements for carrying out notarial practice are:

• Italian citizenship or citizenship of one of the 28 European Union countries

• A Law degree obtained from an Italian University or a foreign University with a recognized equivalent title.

Practice, starting from 2006, lasts 18 months with the possibility of advancing 6 months already in the last year of university and takes place at a Notarial Office to which one can apply directly; alternatively, one can submit a request to the competent Notarial Council to designate the Notary with whom to carry out the practice. Once the office is identified, registration in the trainee register held by the local Notarial Council is necessary, where every two months the trainee must present a certificate from the notary confirming the actual performance. The practice begins after registration in the trainee register.

It should be noted that to anticipate the semestral notarial practice during the last year of university for students enrolled in the Faculty of Law after January 24, 2012 (entry into force of D.L. January 24, 2012 n.1 converted with the law March 24, 2012 n.27) a special agreement will be necessary as provided for in art. 6 of D.P.R. August 7, 2012 n.137.

For judicial officials and lawyers in practice for at least one year, abbreviated practice is provided for a continuous period of 8 months.

The specialization diploma, obtained from Notary Schools, entails a one-year deduction for the completion of notarial practice from the ordinary term of 18 months, so to complete the practice at the Notary's office, another 6 months of practice will be required.

The practice must be completed within 30 months of registration. If the deadline expires, the period of practice carried out before graduation is not counted.

2. NOTARIAL COMPETITION.

The public competition for the allocation of a programmed number of notarial offices is announced every year by the Ministry of Justice.

One can participate in the competition, submitting all the papers, only five times, as amended by paragraph 496 of law December 27, 2017, n. 205, in force since January 1, 2018.

For the competition announced before the entry into force of the aforementioned amendment (see G.U. n. 77 of October 10, 2017), in the opinion of the National Notarial Council, the rule does not apply, as it cannot be attributed retroactive value in the absence of provisions in this regard.

The test takes place nationally in Rome and consists of two tests:

• A written exam
• An oral exam, which only those candidates who have passed the first one can access.

3. THE COMMISSION

The examining commission (the same for the written and oral exams) is composed of:

1. A court of cassation judge, with higher directive functions, who presides over it;
2. A court of cassation judge eligible for appointment, with functions as vice president;
3. Seven judges with the rank of court of appeal judges;
4. Six university professors, ordinary or associate, teaching legal subjects;
5. Nine notaries with at least ten years of seniority in the profession.

4. COMPETITION SUBJECTS

The written exam consists of three theoretical-practical tests:

• A last will and testament (testament)
• An inter vivos act (civil law)
• An inter vivos act (commercial law)

The tests must be evaluated as a whole by the examining commission.

The oral exam focuses on three distinct tests on the following groups of subjects:

1. Civil law, commercial law, and voluntary jurisdiction, with particular regard to the legal institutes in relation to which the notary's office is exercised;
2. Provisions on the organization of the Notary and notarial archives;
3. Provisions concerning indirect taxes;

At the end of the competition, the Ministry of Justice draws up the ranking list of winning candidates.

5. APPOINTMENT AND ALLOCATION OF OFFICE.

The Ministry of Justice assigns to the competition winners, based on the ranking reached, the office where the new notary is required to establish an office within three months (in which the notarial deeds, registers, and notarial repertoires must be obligatorily deposited and kept). Contrary to what is often stated, therefore, the notarial function is not transmitted to children and evidence of this is that 82.5% of notaries are not children of notaries.

The assignment of the office and the appointment are made by decree of the Director General of Civil Justice of the Ministry and are published in the Official Gazette.

The Ministry of Justice provides the new notary with the seal and the tool for affixing the digital signature. For this reason, the notary must deposit their handwritten signature accompanied by the imprint of the seal with the relevant Notarial Council, which will then register them in its roll.