What Should Notaries Be Like in Russia? Free, State, Departmental? Version-2025

Over the thirty years of the existence of the „free“ notary profession in Russia, both positive and negative experience of its functioning has been accumulated. The interaction of the notary profession with the executive authorities, the judicial system — on the one hand, as well as with the business community and persons seeking notarial assistance — on the other, requires fine-tuning. The author critically evaluates the initiative to develop and adopt the Federal Law „On Notaries and Notarial Activity“, updated in 2024–2025. The foundation of legal regulation laid in 1993 makes it possible today, with minimal investment, to harmonise the interests of the state, notaries, entrepreneurs and citizens through some additions and amendments to the Fundamentals of Legislation of the Russian Federation on Notaries of 1993. The development of the draft law „On Notaries and Notarial Activity“, which has dragged on for 15 years, confirms that there are no objective prerequisites for a radical reform of the notary profession. Nevertheless, the following is required: changes in the legal regulation of the status and powers of the Federal Notary Chamber; clarification of the legal regime of the Unified Information System of Notaries, notary registers and their integration into the system of state public registers; development of a set of rules on social support for notaries: pension provision, a system of compensation for the provision of legal assistance to privileged categories of persons, clarification of the financial liability of notaries depending on the notarial act performed. Finally, the issue of a notarial monopoly and the long-outdated legal regulation of the system of actions equivalent to notarial ones are awaiting their solution. Notaries and notarial activity as part of voluntary jurisdiction could be brought closer to the judicial system and civil proceedings organisationally and functionally. Defending the idea of a non-state notary, the author believes that the issue of a specialised notary should be raised again, proposing the introduction of a corporate notary.