Notarų veiklos liberalizavimo galimybės Europos Sąjungos lotyniškojo notariato tradicijos valstybėse

LTDarbe analizuojami argumentai, kuriais grindžiamas poreikis liberalizuoti lotyniškojo notariato paslaugų rinką, bei lotyniškosios tradicijos notariato specifika, kuria remiantis priešinamasi liberalizavimui. Aptariami lotyniškosios tradicijos notariato skirtumai nuo anglosaksų notariato tradicijos, ideologiniai šių skirtumų pagrindai, analizuojami privalomi Europos Sąjungos reikalavimai ir rekomendacijos dėl notarų veiklos reguliavimo tobulinimo, išreikšti politiniu, teisminiu ir teisės aktų lygmenimis, taip pat pateikiama dažniausiai naudojama argumentacija dėl poreikio dereguliuoti atskiras notariato veiklos sritis – įkainių nustatymą, kiekybinius ir kokybinius ribojimus paslaugų teikėjams bei reklamos draudimą.

ENThe paper analyses arguments substantiating the need of modernisation the market of Latin notary services, as well as the specifics of the Latin notary tradition which is used to support the resistance to such modernisation. First of all, the paper discusses the aim and specifics of the Latin notary tradition, as well the differences between it and the Anglo-Saxon notary tradition. Later on, it describes models of the Latin Notary outlining differences in the tradition itself, as it may be seen from examples in different countries or even in the same country (e.g. Germany or Switzerland). The second part of the paper analyses the framework for national regulation of notary activities in the context of the EU provisions, separately describing provisions in political, judicial and legislative levels. The third part presents arguments supporting regulation and deregulation of notary activities. First of all, mostly used arguments of general nature supporting the need to regulate this profession due to its specifics are presented; later on three fields of regulation (or possible deregulation) are examined: restrictions to pursue notary activities (including quantitative (numerus clausus) and qualitative (qualification and personal characteristics) indicators), establishment of fees and restrictions of advertising. Analysis of these fields include theoretical assumptions on the influence of deregulation and, where possible, practical examples what effect deregulation of the mentioned fields may have on the price, quality and accessibility of notary services.Analysis of the possibilities to reform the regulation of the number of notaries suggests the inference that in cases where qualitative standards seeking to improve the quality of notary services are properly applied the deregulation of number of notaries should not have any adverse effect on price and quality of notary services. The same cannot be clearly said about the reformation of fees for notary services, as the effect of fee deregulation depends upon the extent to which the set fees are similar to market price which may vary in case of every fee due to demand structure (function monopoly, obligation of notary acts, number of contracts, etc.), number of providers of service, etc. Latin notary tradition has only one example of fees deregulation. Removal of fee regulation in the Netherlands lead to increase of fees for small acts in about 50 percent and decrease in about 30 percent in fees for big contracts. Similar trends may be expected only in countries where notary fees and actual market prices are relatively proportional, however, not in all countries. Finally, removal of ban to advertise notary activities or prices is not obvious in respect of price, quality and accessibility of notary services. On the one hand, research works imply that in the market of legal services the greater volume of advertising means lower quality, however, in case of limited demand the greater volume of advertising may cause greater expenditure in provision of notary services thus increasing the price to consumers.