Public documents in E-form
The Federal Council wants to prioritize digitization and electronic archiving in public notarization. Today, it has instructed the Federal Department of Justice and Police to prepare a draft law and a dispatch for the attention of parliament by the end of 2017.
Public notarization serves to protect the parties in important legal transactions, to preserve evidence and to create clear conditions. Examples include the marriage contract, the will or the advance directive. Today, the original of the deed - also known as the Urschrift in some cantons - must be notarized as a paper document, for example at a notary's office. Due to technological and social developments, the Federal Council already proposed in the consultation draft in December 2012 that the original of the public deed can also be created in electronic form in the future. This further development of notarization law has been welcomed by most of the participants in the consultation. The admission of the electronic original also requires electronic deposit in a register. This will ensure that the public deed is available at all times and that its binding nature can be verified.
Legal certainty for business
Electronic public authentication and its archiving meet a need of the Swiss economy and create legal certainty. The Federal Council wants to introduce these innovations in order to keep pace with the ongoing digitization in society. In order to be able to prioritize these innovations, it is decoupling them from other points in the original bill. The Federal Council is examining in greater depth the intercantonal recognition of the public deed in the area of real estate transactions and the legal anchoring of minimum requirements under federal law for public notarization. Both areas are to become the subject of a second legislative project, if necessary.
Source: Federal Department of Justice and Police
