Draft bill 422.

Summary.

The draft bill establishes a notarial regime in the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá). It defines public faith as a state mandate to certify the authenticity and truthfulness of documents, and empowers notaries to receive, draw up and authorize declarations, acts and contracts to which individuals or legal entities wish or are required to give authenticity and public record. To qualify, a notary would need Panamanian nationality, full civil and political rights, no conviction for an intentional offense carrying imprisonment, a registered law degree, a diploma in notarial law and a passing result on the notary examination. The diploma, offered by the Ministry of Government (Ministerio de Gobierno) or a university in the country, would require at least 120 hours and end with an examination before the Ministry, with a score above 80 out of 100.

The listed functions include authenticating signatures and means of identification, drawing up public deeds, attesting legal transactions, granting powers of attorney and issuing protests of credit instruments under the Commercial Code (Código de Comercio). They also cover civil marriages, marital property agreements, wills and succession matters, extrajudicial inspections, reproduction of public and private records, records of meetings, opening of record books and comparison of copies with originals. The bill bars notaries from authorizing instruments benefiting themselves or connected persons, including certain instruments involving legal entities; holding specified representative positions in public entities or entities with state participation; authorizing instruments contrary to law, morality or good customs; drawing up instruments before the relevant fees have been registered; and delegating duties to unauthorized persons.

The Ministry of Government would impose sanctions, oversee and supervise notarial work, and could audit it at any time. It would regulate protocol books by executive decree. The protocol would comprise original deeds, protocolization records and records of signature legalization. Notaries would deliver a physical or digital copy each year to the National Archives (Archivos Nacionales), while the Government Innovation Authority (Autoridad de Innovación Gubernamental) would create a digital system to automate and store protocols. Notarial paper would be reserved for notaries, printed by a state printer designated by the Ministry and sold by the National Bank of Panama (Banco Nacional de Panamá). Documents created and processed digitally with a qualified electronic signature could dispense with physical paper. The Ministry would grant and register a unique notarial seal, permit an electronic version and regulate other seals; for digital documents, the qualified electronic signature would replace the handwritten signature and seal.

Notaries would access the Electoral Tribunal’s (Tribunal Electoral) identity verification system and use personal data solely for notarial purposes, with civil or criminal liability for violations. The bill restricts authorization of documents involving credit, banking or financial institutions by lawyers connected to those institutions. It gives certified electronic signatures validity without notarial intervention. It repeals provisions of the Administrative Code and Civil Code and would take effect fifteen months after promulgation in the Official Gazette. The measures concern the named public institutions, notarial service users, universities, companies and financial institutions.