Baku, August 21, AZERTAC
In order to ensure the access of citizens to the judiciary, to inform them regularly about the activities of the judiciary, the work of wide use of opportunities of both of civil society representatives and the media, as well as the official websites and social networks of the Ministry of Justice is continued. From this point of view, the live broadcast of various activities of the judiciary on the Ministry's official Facebook page during the special quarantine regime in the implementation of the President's instructions also plays an important role in legal education of the population.
AZERTAC reports that, as part of a series of measures taken in this direction, the Ministry of Justice organized an online public discussion on "Notary activities" on August 21.
Huseyn Mammadov, Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan Notary Chamber, Private Notary at Baku ASAN Service Center No. 2, Zaur Hasanov, Adviser to the Ministry's Registration and Notary General Department, gave detailed information on notarial activities and recent radical reforms in this area.
It was noted that during the pandemic, the ministry provides legal assistance to citizens in all areas of activity using modern innovations and information and communication tools. All these are aimed at ensuring the satisfaction of citizenship and providing decent justice service to the population.
It was noted that, the notary is a reliable guarantor of legal protection of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens specified in the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan. A person who is professionally engaged in notarial activities is called a notary. There are currently 160 notaries in Azerbaijan. Most of them are private notaries.
In the organization of notarial acts during the pandemic, along with protective measures such as medical protection and social distance, it was necessary to give preference to the use of digital technologies and to conduct notarial acts from a distance. It is gratifying that long before the pandemic began, extensive works were done to improve electronic notaries. An interactive advisory service has been set up, notaries have been provided with mobile service bags, and a number of electronic opportunities for mobile notaries have been created. Thus, if a citizen cannot go to the notary office, he is served where he is. They played an invaluable role in providing necessary and urgent services to citizens during the pandemic.
It was noted that, today special attention is paid to the application of e-services in the field of justice. Information technologies are also applied in the field of notaries, services are provided in a single place. The "electron notary" information system has become one of the most important information systems. At present, the system exchanges information with more than 10 organizations. This provides citizens with more flexible and quality notarial services. Every day, more than 10,000 notarial acts are registered. The need for citizens to apply to other agencies is eliminated and falsification of documents is prevented.
It was reported that, in the first seven months of this year, more than 2.1 million notarial acts were registered in notary offices. Universal payment kiosks are located in all notary offices. There is an opportunity to get information from these kiosks. Citizens can study the documents required for notarial acts through this kiosk.
Citizens are also provided with services via remote video communication. The number of applications written by parents for minors to leave the country via video communication at the "Electron Justice" kiosks installed at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport is more than 600. In the future, these kiosks will be installed at other airports in the country.
At the same time, to date, more than 60,000 users have downloaded the "Mobile Notary" application on their phones, and about 20,000 power of attorneys have been issued electronically through this application. Currently, works in order to organize registration of new notarial acts, including power of attorney issued for banks, as well as applications for revocation of power of attorney and applications for consent of minors to leave the country through “Mobile Notary” application are carried out.
The Ministry of Justice provides a total of 31 e-services to citizens, including in the field of notaries. In the first seven months of this year, the number of users of e-services of the Ministry of Justice exceeded one million.
It was stressed that, individuals and legal entities should clarify the essence and content of the contracts, especially real estate contracts before signing them, and they can use the help of notaries for this purpose. In practice, disputes over the non-payment of money under a contract after the introduction of the payment of funds through a notary's deposit account are almost non-existent. The procedure for withholding a simplified tax on real estate alienation contracts is explained to citizens by a notary and tax benefits are applied.
The discussions focused on the establishment and activities of the Azerbaijani Notary Chamber. It was noted that necessary measures are being taken for the Azerbaijani Notary Chamber to become a member of the International Notary Union. The Notary Chamber, together with the State Notary Archive, continues preparations for a project to digitize inheritance cases. Thus, it is planned to digitize the inheritance works in the archive. Automation of notarial acts and response of inquiries in the future is taken as a goal to make this work easier and more flexible.
During the public discussion, information was provided on the activities of notaries and their role in society, the experience of notaries and "ASAN service", obtaining documents required for the registration of notarial acts from other information resources.
In the online public discussion also there were answered questions from social network users on real estate wills, gifting, issue of apostilles and other issues.
