Some Issues for Public Notaries

The Minister of Law and Human Rights issued Regulation No. 03.HT.03.10 of 2007 on 8 November 2007. However, this Regulation has only recently become publicly available as a part of the socialization program being run to ensure that all relevant parties are familiar with the provisions of the Regulation. The Regulation has been issued to give effect to the provisions of Article 66 of Law No. 30 of 2004.

The Regulation specifically relates to the necessity for Public Notaries to surrender documents (specifically deeds and other minutes) to investigators, public prosecutors, and judges when requested as part of a legal matter. The Regulation also deals with the mechanisms for subpoenaing a public notary as a witness or suspect in a particular legal matter.

The requesting of documents may be for the originals or for photocopies and will depend on the request from the relevant authority. However, the release of notarial deeds is not as simple as the making of a request. On the contrary, the request must be approved by the Regional Supervisory Board (Majelis Pengawas Daerah / MPD). The MPD will provide their agreement to the request if the person making the request evidences that the documents are required in a matter where there is a crime suspected or where the statute of limitations has not expired. This agreement will not be given prior to hearing from the public notary concerned.

With respect to the surrender of original documents the MPD will also provide agreement, in addition to the above criteria, where there is repudiation of any signature on the documents or where there is suspicion that the documents have been amended improperly or where it is suspected that the public notary has back-dated a document.

The subpoenaing of a public notary will require a request to be made and the MPD will consider this request and grant it if the person making the request is able to evidence that there is a suspicion of criminal activity and that the statute of limitations has not expired.

The MPD is required to notify either its grant or rejection of the request within 14 working days of the request being received. This Regulation applies to all persons working as a public notary whether that be in the capacity of a substitute notary, special substitute notary, or as a temporary notary.

This Regulation has been in force since 8 November 2007.