Payment for notarial services to be uniform across the country

The Ministry of Justice proposes to formalize in the national law a clear mechanism of payment for notarial services, says the Minister of Justice Oleksandr Lavrynovych.

According to the Minister, on May 28 the Ministry of Justice held a public hearing which discussed the draft amendments to the Law "On Notary" in part of regulation of fees for notarial acts.

The Minister of Justice said that today in Ukraine there is no uniform system of calculating fees for services provided by notaries. This leads to setting different rates across Ukraine for similar notary services. In addition, different fees for similar services across Ukraine violates the requirements of Article 24 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which, in particular, stipulates that citizens have equal constitutional rights and freedoms and are equal before the law.

In view of this the Ministry of Justice prepared a draft law on amending the Law "On Notary", which introduces amendments and supplements relating to the introduction throughout Ukraine of uniform rates for the provision of notarial services.

As was noted during the public hearing, the rates of notary fee should be calculated in relation to the minimum wage, with clearly defined list of services. In addition, it is proposed to set a minimum and maximum limit of payment for services related to notarial acts by private notaries.

Draft law suggests that the rates and payment procedure of notarial fees will be determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

Furthermore, in order to ensure the availability of such services to vulnerable population groups, the draft law proposes to establish exemptions for payment of notarial fees, which also will be determined by the Cabinet of Ministers.

It is assumed that the approval of the legislative initiatives will allow for a unified system of payment for notarial services, ensure equality between consumers of notarial services, reduce expenditures of population and prevent hard-sell to consumers of other mandatory additional notarial services.