Text that obliges notary to offer unified online service goes to sanction

Congress sent for sanction the provisional measure that obliges notaries to create a unified platform to provide digital services to the population by January 31, 2023 — which would be the deadline for the implementation of Serp (Electronic Public Records System).

The Senate included changes in the text this Tuesday (31) and the changes were maintained by the deputies, by 366 votes to 8. The text is going to be sanctioned by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

The conclusion of the votes would need to happen by Wednesday (1st), or else the provisional measure would lose its validity.

The text has been the subject of great dispute in recent days. Senators point out that there was mobilization by notaries, notaries and banks in an attempt to satisfy their interests.

There were 344 amendments by parliamentarians suggesting changes to the text that had been sent by President Jair Bolsonaro when he edited the proposal at the end of last year. After an agreement with the Chamber, the deputies only approved the text coming from the government and the amendments were all transferred to the Senate.

The rapporteur of the proposal in the Senate, Weverton (PDT-MA), maintained the aspects referring to the reduction of bureaucracy, the reasonableness of fees and the modernization of processes. On the other hand, he left to a later law the items that deal with the attributions of banks, notaries and notaries and the target of great dispute between these sectors.

The provisional measure creates the electronic system that aims to digitize the acts and procedures of notary services. People will be able to access them online.

The proposal also provides that it will be possible to send and receive documents and titles, in addition to issuing certificates and providing information electronically. There will be a national central of records of titles and public documents, which will be responsible for storing the acts.

There are currently more than 13,000 notary offices throughout Brazil.

This system will be operated nationally by a non-profit legal entity and will be funded by a fund, which will receive contributions from the contributions paid by the registry offices.

For example, currently a person who acquires a property needs to draw up a deed in a notary’s office. Then, you must go to a land registry office to give the document an official character.
When the new system is in place, according to the proposal, these actions can be performed remotely, through digital means.

According to the Ministry of Economy, the measure can facilitate the registration of real estate, in addition to birth or marriage certificates, among other acts that today depend on face-to-face service.
The text also determines that users will be able to pay costs and expenses by electronic means, such as credit and debit cards, including in installments.

One of the amendments promoted by the rapporteur exempts small producers who obtained their land in Incra settlement areas (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) from the costs related to registering properties in the registry offices.

“When they receive the title of property, those small owners of settlement areas do not have the money to register in a notary’s office, whether in Rondônia, Maranhão, or in any state. for the registration of these titles of property of small producers in the areas of settlement of Incra”, says Senator Roberto Rocha (PTB-MA).

Another change provides that notaries will have more capacity to act in the mediation and arbitration of cases, the so-called extrajudicial forms.

Weverton even accepted changes that would, in effect, increase the number of steps required to register real estate. The measure was the target of pressure from notaries and opposition from banks. However, in the final version, the senator excluded this provision from the text, a measure that was later corroborated by the Chamber.

If accepted, these changes would increase the cost of land registrations. This is because buyers should bear 40% of the costs and fees of the amount fixed for the public deeds that deal with the legal transaction from which the extract produced and issued.

“The ideal, the ideal, the ideal was for us to vote today on the original provisional measure, but I understand the rapporteur’s considerations. I believe that of the two amendments, which, in my view, would greatly harm the issue that would bureaucratize , would do the opposite of what this provisional measure proposes, you did a review and withdrew it, one of which turned notary of notes into a big deal”, said Senator Eduardo Girão (Podes-CE).

Anoreg (Association of Notaries and Registrars) released a note this Tuesday afternoon (31) in which it states that the digitization process is already at an “extremely advanced stage” and more than 95% of the acts could be done electronically. .

On the other hand, the entity claims to be concerned about initiatives in the National Congress for the creation of a private body for the registration of movable and real estate guarantees outside the notary and registry ecosystem.

“In this way, institutional and legislative dialogue is crucial for advancing even more in the computerization of procedures, as well as maintaining the legal security of citizens’ patrimonial assets”, says a note from the association.