2021 – the Jubilee Year of the 30 years of the Restored Polish Notariat

To mark the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Polish Notaries Law Act dated 14 February 1991, the Polish National Council of Notaries has declared the year 2021 to be the Jubilee Year of the 30 years of the Restored Polish Notariat.

On 14 February 1991, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland passed the Notaries Law Act. Following the 40-year period of being state officials in state notarial offices, notaries were separated from the structures of the Polish state and started to practise in their privately-owned notarial offices as public office holders. The new system of the Polish notariat provided for under the Notaries Law Act of 14 February 1991 relies upon the best traditions of the independent Polish Notariat, and notably on solutions contained in the Ordinance of the President of the Republic of Poland of 27 October 1933 on the Notaries Law Act, formerly referred to as the constitution of the Polish notariat.

Had it not been for the intense engagement of quite a number of Polish notaries who had strived that the notariat take up its previous position in the preventive legal system, the new Notaries Law Act would not have been drafted. That initiative had been supported by the Ministry of Justice, which prepared a draft of the ground-breaking Notaries Law Act. Likewise, the support received from the International Union of Notaries (UINL) in respect of said initiatives cannot be underestimated.

Modern times have posed a number of challenges that notaries have been able to meet successfully. Just to mention a major amendment which extended the scope of notaries’ powers and provided for a possibility of filing applications for registration at the land and mortgage registry online and of consulting the said registry run by the Polish state, which is a milestone for enhancing the security of legal transactions. The Polish state also appreciated the notariat’s reliability and its cutting-edge solutions when maintaining digital registers by entrusting it with the management of the public Succession Register, in which entries are made not only by notaries themselves, but also by courts. This means that notariat is a trusted partner of the Polish state.

The new system of the Polish notariat has released a new energy among its structures. In cooperation with regional chambers of notaries, the National Council has created a Society for Mutual Insurance REJENT – LIFE. Polish notariat is also a member of the International Union of Notaries (UINL) and of the Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE).

As part of the festivities forming the Polish notariat’s jubilee, the Polish notariat plans to undertake a number of activities to mark this anniversary and to highlight the role of notaries as persons of public trust as well as their commitment to ensuring security of legal cases. At the outset, a special logotype has been designed for this occasion by a renowned graphic artist Mr Andrzej Pągowski, commemorating 30 years of the independent Polish notariat.