La revista The Economist dedicaba hace algunos días un reportaje a la situación de
la profesión notarial en el mundo. Una profesión que viene afrontando reformas
de mayor o menor calado en distintos países, pero que tampoco parece que los
cambios vayan a ir adelante en función del impacto que pueda tener la crisis.
El artículo es interesante por cuanto contrapone las experiencias y el
funcionamiento de la profesión notarial en sistemas legales diferentes y en
varios continentes.
Transcribo los párrafos finales del artículo:
“Are the days
of this venerable profession numbered? Don’t bet on it. As domestic monopolies
wither, notaries are looking abroad. Attempts to ease the movement of contracts
and certificates across borders—a tiresome paper-chase—are hotly debated. European
notaries would like the acts that they produce to enjoy greater recognition
across the continent, but that could disadvantage citizens in Britain and nine
other EU countries where the legal system can create no equivalent document.
Despite improvements in Italy and
other European countries, the financial crisis has also slowed reform.
Notaries’ role in conveyancing makes them reliable tax collectors, so change is
risky while money is tight. Some
countries hold “Anglo-Saxon” deregulation responsible for the crisis; Russia’s
new civil code, which comes into force in September, grants its weak notariat
greater authority. And Gulf states, now attracting many of the West’s
jobless graduates, consume limitless volumes of paperwork. Notaries’
authority may be fading, but their fate is not yet sealed”.
Madrid, 14 de septiembre de 2012
