No provision for notarization of translations in the draft Law on Notarization (amended)

The majority of opinions in the Standing Committee of the Law Committee and the drafting agency agreed to accept the direction of keeping the provisions of the draft Law as submitted by the Government, which is not to stipulate that notaries notarize translations but only stipulate the certification of the translator's signature, to overcome the shortcomings and limitations of notarizing translations.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung reported on a number of major issues in explaining, accepting and revising the draft Law on Notarization (amended). (Photo: DUY LINH)

On the morning of August 13, continuing the program of the August 2024 legal thematic meeting, under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh, Standing Committee of the National Assembly give comments on the explanation, acceptance and revision of the draft Law on Notarization (amended).

Reporting at the meeting, Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung said that a number of major issues of the draft Law have been basically accepted and revised by the agencies, such as types of transactions that must be notarized, notarized translations, electronic notarization, etc.

Regarding electronic notarization, taking into account the opinions of National Assembly deputies, the draft Law was revised to clarify: online electronic notarization is when the parties participating in a civil transaction requesting notarization are not present at the same location and enter into a transaction through online means in the direct presence of a notary.

With this regulation, all activities of the person requesting notarization when establishing a transaction must be directly witnessed by a notary, so it is completely possible to meet the requirements of notarizing content in the traditional way.

According to the Standing Committee of the Law Committee, because electronic notarization is a new issue, to ensure the stability of the Law and feasibility, the draft Law only stipulates basic issues on electronic notarization, and at the same time assigns the Government to stipulate the scope of transactions that can be electronically notarized, the implementation roadmap, and specific processes and procedures in electronic notarization.

Regarding translation notarization, some opinions agree with the draft Law submitted by the Government which does not stipulate translation notarization but only stipulates that notaries certify the translator's signature. The majority of opinions in the Standing Committee of the Law Committee and the drafting agency agree to accept this direction to overcome the shortcomings and limitations of translation notarization.

Some opinions suggest keeping the regulations on notarization of translations as in the current Notarization Law; at the same time, adding regulations on enhancing the responsibility of translators to ensure the accuracy of the translation compared to the original, while notaries are only responsible for the authenticity and legality of the translated document.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh moderated the discussion. (Photo: DUY LINH)

Need specific regulations on notary assistants and secretaries

Concerned about the team of notary assistants and notary secretaries, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh stated that this team is participating in almost all stages of the notarization process, from receiving documents, consulting on documents, drafting documents, supporting signatures in transactions, supporting scheduling, organizing transaction signing, updating data, creating archives... and many other tasks.

Meanwhile, the draft Law strictly prohibits notaries from disclosing notarized information. Therefore, if there are no regulations on the rights, obligations, and responsibilities of notary assistants and professional secretaries, these subjects will have no basis to access and handle work, especially the principle of confidentiality of notarized information; as well as ensuring the qualifications of these subjects when communicating with relevant organizations and individuals to participate in notarization activities, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly noted.

The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly said that recently, there have been a number of cases in which employees of notary organizations took advantage of the process of performing their duties to violate the law, but because there are no regulations on the titles and positions of these subjects, the prosecuting agencies have had difficulty in determining the crime and responsibility.

Therefore, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly suggested that the drafting agency and the reviewing agency study the opinions of National Assembly deputies on regulations on notary assistants and notary secretaries. And priority should be given to these subjects in the conditions for considering the appointment of notaries.

Concluding the discussion, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh stated that the members of the National Assembly Standing Committee basically agreed with the Report on a number of major issues regarding the reception and revision of the draft Law on Notarization (amended). Regarding the notarization of translations, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly said that this issue is clear, we agree to only certify the signature of the translator and the translator must take responsibility.

Regarding the responsibility of state management of notary practice, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly proposed clarifying the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice in taking the lead in helping the Government build and manage the notary database.

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