United Kingdom’s intention to exit from European Union (commonly referred as Brexit) will inexorably make some deviations and ambiguity in the UK economy. But for the notarial profession in England and Wales, the things are not going to alter as much. As the law applicable is domestic, there won’t be any difference in the method notaries are appointed and trained. But, the qualification a notary at England and Wales possess will no longer suit them to practice in the continent. Likewise, it won’t be that easy for European Union lawyers to qualify as English notaries.
Impact on Notarial Functions
In England and Wales, notaries are entitled to carry out all legal activities except conducting litigation. The main difference when the United Kingdom exit from European Union is that the notarial professionals should have hawk-eyed scrutiny on all matters involving European matters. There will be major changes in private international and procedural law. All EU instruments on common rules of jurisdiction, parallel proceedings and enforcement laws between countries in EU won’t be the same for the UK. This will make the administrative procedures between UK and EU countries more complex which in turn will increase work for notaries. For example, for securing a Spanish NIE number, European national needs to present only notarized copy of the photo-page of passport and the page confirming that it is EU passport. After Brexit, UK nationals will have to submit a notarized copy of entire passport as applicable to non-European nationals. There would be an approachable change among the documents notarized in the UK with respect to apostilling requirements.
Brexit would also have some indirect impact on regulations applicable for notaries and their functionality. The UK government might make some changes in insurance law and employment law which could be relevant to notarial profession.
The common legal effect of the exit will be that judgments rendered by English Courts will have no effect in European Jurisdiction. The European rules and regulations will have no outcome in the United Kingdom also.
The decision to move out from European Union only have impact mostly on the economic market of the United Kingdom and it’s not going to have much impact on the notarial profession in England and Wales. At the same time, notaries in UK will have a substantial increase in their work after Brexit.