Publication of 2015 annual report by CNUE

–

The Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE) published today the 2015 edition of its annual report. The report gives a detailed account of the CNUE’s activities of recent months and enables the reader to identify the key issues for the notarial profession today and in the future.

The annual report includes the following sections:

•   A section on Management, which presents the CNUE, its members and its various internal bodies.

•   A Year in Review, where the highlights of the year are listed, such as the information evening held at the Bibliothèque Solvay in Brussels on 19 November 2015, during which expatriates were able to meet notaries from across Europe and find out about their rights.

•   A Legal Dossiers section, which deals with the various subjects of interest for the notarial profession: succession law, company law, combating money laundering and the negotiations on the proposal for a regulation on public documents regarding which the CNUE welcomes the fact that an agreement was reached by the trilogue recently.

•   A section on External Relations. This year, the CNUE established closer ties with the Civil Law Initiative and contributed to the European Law Institute’s work.

•   A Communications section, detailing the CNUE’s activities in this area: website creation, presence in social media, press relations, etc.

For 2015, the regulation on international successions becoming applicable on 17 August 2015 was a major priority for the CNUE. In this perspective, the CNUE stepped up its initiatives, for example by continuing to support training for European notaries, in addition to the work of the European Network of Registers of Wills Association (ENRWA) to facilitate the interconnection of registers of wills and the creation of national registers of European Certificates of Succession (ECS). The French and Luxembourg national ECS registers are already connected.

The CNUE also conducted a series of public relations actions, either meeting representatives of governments, the European institutions and international organisations, or organising events on topical issues, such as the conference on the successions regulation on 19 November 2015, organised jointly with the European Commission.

Finally, the CNUE has paid attention to European citizens’ needs this year. New free online resources have been created, including the Buying Property in Europe and The Vulnerable in Europe websites. At the same time, the Successions Europe website has been substantially updated.

> Read the annual report 2015

Conference : Commission on International Successions

–

Three months after Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 on international successions became applicable, the Notaries of Europe and the European Commission held a joint conference on Thursday 19 November so that legal professionals applying the regulation could exchange their opinions on practical issues and make a first assessment of experiences gained in the field. Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, and Jean Tarrade, President of the Notaries of Europe, spoke during the opening session.

Me Jean Tarrade declared :

In the area of successions, the Notaries of Europe are facing and will continue to face a significant increase in cross-border questions from European citizens. In response, they are using and developing increasingly efficient practical tools. We are ready to rise to this challenge.

Mr Tarrade then listed the various initiatives the Notaries of Europe have already implemented for European citizens:

• EUFides, an online collaboration platform enabling two foreign notaries to work together on cross-border files

• The interconnection of registers of wills thanks to the European Network of Registers of Wills (ENRW)

• The creation of an information website for the public: www.successions-europe.eu

Mr Tarrade’s speech is available here (in French only):read the speech

Mme Věra Jourová also said :

Notaries are at the forefront of the application of the Regulation: in many Member States, they are the starting point for citizens aiming to plan their succession, and for heirs seeking to better understand and organise their international inheritance. Notaries also deliver the European Certificate of Succession in several Member States. They are thus an important partner for the Commission, both to ensure the efficient implementation and application of the Regulation and to help citizens to fully benefit from it.

The Notaries of Europe press release of 17 August 2015 can be consulted here. Photos and videos of the event will also be available on the Notaries of Europe website in the coming days (www.cnue.be).

Furthermore, the successions regulation will be at the heart of the questions discussed during the Notaries of Europe information evening also organised on Thursday for expatriates living in Brussels.

Buyingmyhome.eu

–

Today the Notaries of Europe opened a new website for citizens: “Buying Property in Europe”
This website provides information in English and French explaining how to buy property in the 22 EU countries with the notarial system.

The easy-to-access website is based on specific questions and is intended as a practical tool for consumers, helping them to understand the different stages of a real estate transaction depending on the national law applicable. The information is split into three sections:

1• Preparing the contract and the various stages of the procedure (initial agreement, financing and financing guarantees, information relating to the property and the parties);

2• Signature of the contract by the parties

3• Performance of this contract (transfer of ownership, payment of property price and taxes, handing over of keys, publication of ownership in the land registers).

In Europe, 2.5 million homes belong to people living in a Member State other than that in which the property is located and several million Europeans no longer live in their country of origin. However, whether buying a secondary residence, making an investment or moving abroad, buying property in Europe remains a complex operation, particularly because of the differences between national laws. The “Buying Property in Europe” website is therefore a precious tool to help understand the different stages of real estate transactions and it will provide very useful information for citizens before they consult a professional such as a notary.

Me Jean Tarrade, President of the Council of the Notariats of the European Union said:

With the “Buying Property in Europe” website, the Notaries of Europe are providing reliable and factual information to facilitate cross-border property transactions in the European Union. In addition, to make procedures easier for citizens, we have set up an online collaborative work platform, EUFides. This platform enables European notaries to work together on cross-border files, thus making its easier – and above all more secure – for citizens buying property in Europe.

Notaries of Europe active in implementing international succession regulation

–

Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 on international successions enters into application today. The Notaries of Europe welcome the implementation of this new instrument, which will simplify considerably successions in the European Union. Henceforth, the law of the habitual residence of the deceased will apply to the whole succession. However, citizens will have the option of choosing in advance the law of their nationality for the settlement of their succession. The Notaries of Europe also welcome the creation of the European Certificate of Succession (ECS), which proves the capacity as heir in all Member States and which will greatly facilitate procedures for beneficiaries.

In the majority of EU Member States, notaries are the main interlocutors for any issue related to succession law. This is why they are already taking action for the speedy and effective implementation of the new European regulation:

• On the www.successions-europe.eu website, they provide citizens with factsheets on the succession laws of the 22 Member Sates that have notaries, in three languages: English, French and the language of the country concerned.

• The Notaries of Europe actively support the interconnection of the national registers of wills undertaken by the ENRWA (European Network of Registers of Wills Association, www.enrwa.eu), for which they took the initiative and which enables notaries to search a foreign register via their national register. Currently, fifteen national registers are interconnected, making it easier to search for a will in Europe.

• In partnership with the ENRWA, the Notaries of Europe are also working on the creation and interconnection of national registers of European Certificates of Succession. The Belgian, French and Luxembourg registers will be interconnected by the end of the year.

Me Jean Tarrade, President of the Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE), declared :

The entry into application of the European regulation on international successions is a red-letter day. This legislation will make life easier for citizens and for practitioners dealing with successions, such as notaries. We now call upon the European institutions to continue to work in this direction, to go ahead and unify conflict-of-law rules at European level in other areas, such as matrimonial property regimes, the property consequences of registered partnerships and legal capacity and the protection of the vulnerable.

40 000 notaries committed to legal certainty in Europe

–

The 22 member notariats of the Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE) today signed by notarial act a Charter of Legal Certainty in Europe. The signature took place at the European Parliament in Strasburg on the occasion of the 111th Congress of the Notaries of France. Through this Charter, the 40 000 notaries of Europe and their 160 000 employees underline their commitment to legal certainty for European citizens and their families.

To this end, the Notaries of Europe intend to:

–   Facilitate access to law by creating practical information tools like the Successions Europe :

> “Successions in Europe“

> “Couples in Europe“

> “Vulnerable in Europe“

–   Develop and enhance tools for cross-border cooperation between notaries such as the EUFides platform and the European Notarial Network (ENN).

–   Make available to the European institutions their expertise in their areas of competence.

Me Jean Tarrade, President of the Council of the Notariats of the European Union, declared on this occasion: 

The 40 000 European notariats share the same raison d’être in their work: that of guaranteeing the legal certainty of their fellow citizens. By signing this Charter, we are recalling that notarial expertise is available to the European institutions, so as to participate in a tangible way in the construction of the area of freedom, security and justice sought by the European Union, in the interests of all European citizens.

This charter is all the more symbolic as it marks the EU notariats’ commitment to cooperation just a few weeks from the entry into force of the new European regulation on international successions on 17 August 2015.

> The charter of the Notaries of Europe for legal certainty can be consulted

Protective measures for Minors in 22 European countries

–

The Notaries of Europe are opening today a new section dedicated to protective measures for minors on their information website: The Vulnerable in Europe . The website, developed with European Commission support and available in three languages (English, French and German), provides information on the laws of the 22 countries with the notarial system.

Protecting vulnerable minors and adults has become a real challenge for society. Increasingly, people requiring protection need to travel, be looked after or are hospitalised in a Member State other than that of their habitual residence. Like their family, their assets can be spread across several States. This tendency affects minors and the elderly, but also people who are victims of an accident or illness, people with disabilities, etc. The website on “The Vulnerable in Europe” is therefore a precious tool for citizens wishing to find out more about the protective instruments available to them.

Me Jean Tarrade, the President of the Council of the Notariats of the European Union, declared on this occasion: 

The mobility of citizens and their families is a reality in Europe today. The Notaries of Europe are taking action to provide more information on the various national legislations. Along the same lines as the Successions Europe and Couples in Europe websites, which have been visited several million times to date, we intend to focus our work on raising awareness with this website on the vulnerable, to which we have added a section entirely dedicated to minors

> “Successions in Europe“

> “Couples in Europe“

–

For further information::
CNUE Office
T. +32 2 513 95 29
Email : info@cnue.be

Mr Jean Tarrade new President of notaries of Europe

–

The 40 000 notaries of Europe have a new president for 2015, Mr Jean Tarrade, a French notary. From today, Mr Tarrade takes the reins of the Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE), at the head of which he takes over from Mr André Michielsens of the Belgian notariat. With a renewed European Parliament and European Commission, Mr Tarrade intends to undertake a series of public relations actions to meet many European public authorities as often as possible in order to ensure the notarial function is well known.

In this respect, and continuing the work of his predecessor, Mr Tarrade’s political action will be in line with implementing the 2020 Plan of the Notaries of Europe, which lists a series of concrete proposals in favour of the free movement of citizens and businesses in Europe. For instance, in 2015 the Notaries of Europe will add an extension to the Vulnerable Adults in Europe website with a section dedicated to minors. They will also create an online tool to facilitate understanding of how a real estate transaction works in the 23 States that have the civil law notariat.

> Discover de Plan 2020 of Notaries of Europe

Important events await the CNUE in 2015, for example with the entry into force of the regulation on international successions on 17 August 2015. This regulation will require European notaries to use legal and tax rules with which they will need to be fully conversant. In 2015 the CNUE will focus on new training actions for European notaries, connecting them using the online collaboration platform EUFides. Furthermore, many notariats have been nominated as the competent authorities to issue the European Certificate of Succession (ECS). This is why the CNUE will support the implementation of the registration of ECSs. It will also encourage extending the interconnection to registers of wills in the context of the European Network of Registers of Wills Association.

> Discover CV of Me Jean Tarrade