Motto: “Live
honestly Do not hurt
anyone Give
everyone one’s due” CHAPTER
I Notarial deontology. Principles Art. 1 The deontological code of the notary public comprises norms of moral and professional conduct, which contributes to enhancing the social and professional relations corresponding to creating and maintaining the image and prestige of the notary public institution at high level. Notarial deontology is the set of rules and customs that provides the fullest and most accurate expression of what has to, but also of what must not be done in their relations to the subjects of law. Art. 2 The norms of notarial deontology protect the values cherished by society and contribute to the social good and to enhancing the notary’s functional status of guarantor of equality. Art. 3 Notarial deontology, uniting the exigencies of science with artfulness, often times with deep cultural bearings, cannot manifest without recognising the importance of the following principles, observed in the entire activity: a) principle of equidistance and impartiality towards those who request the notarial act; b) principle of truth, equity and good faith, as meaning and purpose of the notary’s search, by knowledge and wisdom; c) principle of legality of the notarial act and procedures; d) principle of confidentiality of the activity performed by the notary public; e) principle of contractual freedom, circumvented only to the positive order of right and to good manners. Art. 4 The notary public will prove a righteous nature, as well as a deep sense of equity in the entire activity. The conscience of the notary has to be always alert within the legal framework of the work well done and completely refractory to injurious acts and practices of any kind. Art. 5 A significant duty of the notary public is that of permanently adding to his/her knowledge in order to ensure the tools necessary to have the notarial act, carried out in good faith by the parties under safety conditions, as well as their legal rights and interests. CHAPTER
II The main social
values protected through the notarial activity Art. 6 The non-litigious characteristic of the notarial activity is essentially separating the activity carried on by the notaries public from that performed by the bodies of justice. The condition for the non-litigious activity not to turn into litigious consists in the notary’s grounding, integrity, impartiality and wisdom to know those values whose infringement triggers litigation, as well as in the art of harmonising them to obtain the result aimed at by the parties and protected by the law. Art. 7 Overlooking certain fundamental values such as: good, truth, equity, liberty, morals and good manners in exercising one’s rights entails the condition of litigation. Art. 8 Good represents the concordance between the state of affairs and the rules of social ethics, it is the one to which all aspire. The embodiment of good in the notarial activity is mirrored in the concordance between the conscience of the notary and the need stated by the solicitants of the notarial act based on which the notary public understands and accepts, with no resentment or regrets either before or after the act has been done, that such act is the unique or best solution, performed under conditions of high professionalism. Art. 9 Truth represents the concordance between knowledge as reflected by the subjective conscience and the objective reality. The notary public will pursue with utmost care the justness and accuracy of statements, of the deliberate or behavioural acts of the solicitants, correlating them with the circumstances of achievement of the notarial act, the factual aspects revealing the essence of relations between the parties, thus avoiding the risk of executing a defective act. The notarial act must be based on truth, the notary public having the sacred duty of placing truth above anything. Art. 10 Equity means justice and impartiality, and the notary public gas to pursue it with utmost care in order to maintain his/her incorruptibility and impartiality to the participants at the notarial act. Neutrality of the notary does not mean an indifferent attitude but an active one, of state-conferred authority to ascertain the non-litigious civil and commercial legal relations, as well as the protection of interests in accordance with the law. The entire conduct of the notary public has to constitute an example of honesty and kind-heartedness for his/her fellow people. The advice of the notary will be provided to the solicitants of notarial act and to the beneficiaries of any notarial procedures only under the sign of justice and impartiality. Art. 11 Liberty represents people’s possibility of wilful action in the knowledge of the law. Liberty in notarial activity means equal access to the notarial act of all the subjects of law. As value protected by the society, liberty is the expression of the possibility to conclude the notarial act with a variety and complexity determined by the will of the parties under observance of the order of right and of good manners. The role of the notary is to elucidate the real relations between the parties and to explain them, in case the extent of the liberty they have chosen through the act they wish to conclude is injurious to them, to third parties or if it contravenes to the imperative norms of right and to the good manners, what solutions correcting the volition of the parties are required until they reach conformity with the law. Manifestation by the parties of liberties above the law, as well as the acceptance and assuming by the notary of such liberties entail invalidity of the act and responsibility of the notary. Art. 12 The notary is obliged to convince and to impose to the parties, in the executed act, an attitude of non-renunciation to the precepts of morals nor to good manners. Non-observance of this duty by the notary public prejudices the honour of the institution he/she represents. CHAPTER
III Conduct of the
notary public. Relations among notaries
public and between these and the structures of professional bodies Section
I Conduct of the notary public Art. 13 The entire activity of the notary public must be based on the observance of the following decalogue of precepts: 1. Honour the function you are performing. 2. If you have the slightest doubt about what you do, abstain yourself. 3. Place truth above anything else. 4. Work with caution. 5. Study with passion. 6. Advise in good faith. 7. Inspire yourself from the principle of equity. 8. Abide by the law. 9. Remember that your mission is to avoid litigation between people. Art. 14 The conduct of the notary public must be guided by a permanently alert conscience and based on the professional deontologic precepts. Art. 15 The notary public must develop his/her virtues by permanent study and to strengthen his/her good customs by life experience. Art. 16 Courage, moderation, altruism and justice are cardinal virtues in exercising the profession of notary. Art. 17 Courageous behaviour of the notary public is proved by his/her power to tell right from wrong in any circumstances and to pursue solely the accomplishment of good, truth, equity, withstanding all temptations, persuasions or blackmail acts performed on him/her. The notary will rely on a flawless conscience in order to be able to utter or to make possible the utterance of truth and thus to determine the solution in the acts he/she has done without abdicating from the law. Art. 18 By moderation, the notary will avoid his/her presence in those times and circumstances which can bring disrepute. His/her life must be dedicated to carrying out the duty to which he/she is destined, providing the full evidence of an example to society through: modesty, politeness, simplicity, self-control, avoidance of any excess and unfavourable company that prejudice the honour of notary. Art. 19 Altruism must be the core of the notary public’s conduct since he/she, by the nature of his/her profession, must be generous at the same time with judicious in his/her attitude for the sake of good and of moral precepts. The notary’s altruism is regarding especially: a) the good will in looking at and treating in general his/her fellow people, with no discrimination of race, nationality, religious belief, sex, age, etc. b) the gift of being a fine and good listener to people, habit of which he/she can select the essences needed in his/her experience and in the development of his/her psychology; c) the art of estimating the circumstances and conditions to carry out the notarial act “sine ira et studio”; d) a sincere, unconceited, arrogance-free and unselfish opening both to fellow people and in exercising the profession of notary; e) the notary’s unhidden wish to share from his/her experience and knowledge to the new notaries. Art. 20 Justice as virtue, but also as moral value is the closest to the legal value, in many respects running along the same border. The notary will ponder over any state of affairs referred to him/her, with respect to which he/she has to carry out acts or notarial procedures, and the solutions he/she will determine will be based on great consideration, on a detailed acquaintance with the deeds and intentions of the parties, as well as on a sound application of the norms of the law. Art. 21 The notary will be impartial in his/her entire activity and will carry out impartially the attributions relating to exercising the profession. Section
II Relations among notaries public 1. General Art. 22 When carrying out the public service to which he/she is vested, the notary public is obliged to perform his/her competence attributions with high professionalism and at the same time with good faith. Autonomy of the notarial function represents the law guarantee of exercising the conferred prerogatives, with no excess or self-importance. The relations among notaries are not a purpose in itself, but the modalities and means of enhancement for the notary public institution are determined by their improvement. Art. 23 Relations among notaries public are based on altruism, loyalty, seriousness, frankness and correctness, with no manifestations of pride, selfishness, unprincipial competition. 2. Professional relations between notaries public Art. 24 Notaries public are obliged to join all efforts in order to increase the prestige of the institution they belong to. Art. 25 Exercising the profession by notary public is a sacred duty, and the quality of such exercise has to be based on knowledge. The education of the notary public must be one of his/her main concerns because it gives the quality of the acts he/she performs. Art. 26 The reverential and confidential warning of that notary who, by his/her manner of execution of the acts, prejudices the professional probity and injures the interests of the parties represents a collegial duty. Art. 27 The profession of notary is exercised under competitional conditions, based on exclusive competitiveness and professional probity criteria unanimously recognised and accepted as principles consolidating the prestige of the notary public institution. The notary public is forbidden any manifestation of unfair competition when exercising his/her service or in relation to his/her service. Art. 28 Manifestations of unfair competition are: a) the denying public statements regarding other notary colleagues; b) criticism made to notary colleagues with respect to the qualification and quality of their work; c) non-observance of the legal interdiction to advertise by any means, except for the sign of the notarial office made according to the model adopted by the Congress of the National Union of Notaries Public from Romania and for the announcements referring to the address of the notarial office, the work schedule and the content of the activity, solely meaning to specify the notarial domain. d) non-observance of the provisions set up by the Union of Notaries Public from Romania regarding the size and shape of the sign of the notarial office; e) the attitude of the notary who, when the notarial act has been carried out, points out to the parties the advantages they have from the fact of having concluded the act in his/her notarial office as well as the request or the suggestion made to the parties that in the future they should carry out their notarial acts through his/her notarial office; f) any other persuasive practices carried out by the notary public over the solicitants of the notarial act, made with a view to draw them as future clients of the notarial office; g) utilisation of certain fees below the minimum level established, as well as advertising on granting the most substantial fee discounts under the permitted conditions; h) the notary public is having the parties transfer to his office the successional file or other acts and procedures pending or in progress, as the case may be, in another notary’s office, this decision not being the expression only of the parties’ will involved in the act or in the notarial procedure; i) the refusal or avoidance to conclude the notarial act which must be done by travelling outside the headquarters of the notarial office or in emergency situations and the directing of the parties to another notary; j) opening the notarial office in the immediate vicinity of another notarial office in operation, without a previous notification of the notary who works in the office opened initially, as well as the practices of choosing the acts whose execution is ascertained from the onerous fee, directing the solicitants of notarial acts with modest fees or gratis to any other notary. To this effect, opening two notarial offices in the same building or at a distance of minimum 50 m from one another is forbidden; k) gathering information by any means about the activity of notaries from the same district in order to get knowledge of the share and quantum of the incomes and of the clients of notarial offices, on which the respective information is gathered; l) recruiting the personnel trained and qualified in another notarial office; m) any deeds, gestures, attitudes and other forms of manifestation of the notary in person or by intermediate people, whereby the aim is to increase his/her number of clients and incomes to the detriment of other notaries, as well as any deed of the notary who maintains or increases the number of clients by adding to the correct behaviour of notary in the exercise of his/her duty any behavioural acts to the benefit of his/her notarial office. 3. Relations between notaries public are under the sign of honour Art. 29 Notaries public will compulsorily establish between them relations based on professional solidarity and mutual respect. Art. 30 The notary public will avoid, both in his/her conscience and in his/her entire attitude, to judge his/her colleagues and fellow people by comparison to his/her moral personality as a supreme instance and as absolutely irreproachable benchmark, dignified and worthy to be followed. The moral progress should mean to the notary public the threshold attained, from which the other fellow people become better than he/she perceived them before, and his/her own person- increasingly questionable. Art. 31 The notary’s honour is the result of an ascending conduct, based on modesty, balance, wisdom and successful boldness in confronting any vitiating attitude or condition brought before him/her. In the relations between notaries, honour is the nobility sign by virtue of which they all fell equally and plenary their co-existence in the profession, it being the pledge allowing the co-operation and consolidation of the professional prestige. Art. 32 Any manifestation outside the pattern of a balanced behaviour defies and injures the honour and the prestige of the notary public profession, being on the verge of extravagance and spirit of rebellion. Section
III Relations between
notaries public and the structures of professional bodies Art. 33 As members of the National Union of Notaries Public from Romania, notaries public elect by their vote the representative bodies, under the conditions provided by law, regulation and statute. The criteria based on which the notary public will be appointed to held a position in the representative bodies will regard his/her qualities of good organiser and, cumulatively, his/her worth as person who have shown by example that he/she places common interests and the cause of all notaries above his/her own, not seeking profit or personal advantages from the fact of detaining an elective position in the professional bodies. Any attempt to create in the structure of professional bodies groups of pressure, occult networks controlling and polling the notaries’ opinion is forbidden, or any other diversion practices manipulating the notaries’ options, methods turning the notary public institution away from its set goal, these being interventions injuring the prestige of the notary public institution. The designated representatives from among the notaries public will prove their worth not so much by exercising their rights and prerogatives conferred by appointment, but through the extent to which they can identify themselves with the notaries’ interests, behaving in a positive, constructive, creative manner, not in a destructive one. Art. 34 It is forbidden to publish in the Union’s speciality magazines or in other publications the control act in its entirety, including the particular features individualising the notarial office, the notary public, the number of the defective notarial act, as well as any other elements which by their competence are not meant to help improve the notarial activity. What can be published in these magazines referring to the control acts will be complex informational reports, synthetic as well as analytic, which will list the mistakes discovered upon making the control, their share, what the notary’s mistake is, what are the immediate and mediated consequences of such mistakes, as well as what is the correct procedure to be followed by the notary public in order to avoid these mistakes, also indicating complementary reference sources to go deeply in the case study. Art. 35 The moral liability of the notary public refers to those transgressions he/she has made and thus injuring social relations and as such public scorn is aroused, because such relate to social values observed from conviction by the members of society since they have deep roots in the history, faith, culture and civilisation of the people. The consequences of moral liability over the notary public are manifest by: a) a fall in the respect of the community towards the concerned notary public in person; b) weakening the confidence in the notary’s professional probity and honour; c) the bad name attached to the notary public, who by his/her activity impresses unfavourably and permanently the memory of the community, with damaging consequences over the prestige of the notary public institution. CHAPTER
IV Relations of
notaries public to the justice bodies, state institutions,
public authorities, other institutions and banking companies Art. 36 The notary public will seek to maintain good relations and a particular responsiveness towards the requests of justice bodies, public administration authorities, other institutions, banking companies which by the nature of their activity have relations with the public that get in touch with the notarial activity and this exactly with the stated purpose of saving the values protected by society and of harmonising them, which purpose is the mission of all the structures of state authority. Art. 37 The relations of the notary public instituted with these bodies and legal persons will observe the following imperatives: a) solicitude in the actions of general interest organised by all these bodies or institutions, if such actions do not injure the prestige of the notary public and do not represent deviations from the conduct prescribed to the notary public by law, regulation, statute and this code; b) the open, objective position of the notary public in his/her relations to these bodies, starting point from where he/she perceives the possibilities of bettering his/her own activity in order to contribute as such to the improvement of the entire activity bringing forth the notarial act; c) the firmness with which the notary discloses to all responsible persons involved in concluding the notarial act or procedure, from the preparing stage up to the publicity one, the difficulties encountered, the consequences of the imperfections from the complementary activity of all these bodies and their repercussion on the safety of civil and commercial relationships ascertained by the notary, as well as the measures to be taken to overcome such difficulties; d) the notary public shall establish correct relations to the public administration authorities, with no monopolistic tendencies to the detriment of other notarial offices in matters relating to the information on the notices drawn by these authorities with respect to the opening of the successional procedure, and shall avoid establishing certain preferential relations in order to review faster the sketches on which the translative acts of the ownership right are based regarding the buildings or with respect to the excerpts from the civil status acts, fiscal certificates for the utilisation of state bodies, as well as any acts and documents required with a view to conclude the notarial act and procedure. Art. 38 Co-operation of the notary public to all these bodies, institutions, banking companies, other legal persons will be based on correct principles of performance of the provided notarial service, eliminating any manifestation of exclusive co-operation, converging undoubtedly to the conclusion that certain manoeuvres of material incentive are made, which by the illicit erosion of the clients undermines the principle of competition based on competence and professional probity criteria. CHAPTER
V Final provisions Art. 39 The deontological code of notaries public is approved by the Congress of the National Union of Notaries Public from Romania. Any change of the code shall be submitted to the approval of the Congress. Art. 40 Beginning with the date of its enforcement by the Congress, the Deontological Code becomes norm of compulsory moral conduct for all notaries public in Romania. When enforced, this code will be published in the Bulletin of Notaries Public. |