His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid amends some provisions of the Dubai Notary Public Law

• Notary Public in Dubai

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, may God protect him, in his capacity as Ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, issued Law No. /26/ of 2021 amending some provisions of Law No. /4/ of 2013 regarding the notary public in the Emirate of Dubai, which included The law amends the texts of 15 articles of the original law.

And in the context of keeping pace with the technological development taking place in Dubai and its rapid transformation towards the digital environment, the amendment included in Article 4 of the law regarding the practice of the work of a notary public in the Emirate of Dubai, adding the “electronic notary”, which is an electronic system that performs some of the specific competencies of the public notary under This law is without any human intervention and without the need for the concerned persons to personally attend the headquarters of the notary public, in addition to the public notary, the private notary, and employees of government agencies registered in the register.

The law also clarified the conditions for appointing a public notary, foremost of which is that he be a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, that he be fully qualified and of good conduct and behavior.

Article 8 of the law stipulates the formation of the Notary Public Affairs Committee, specifying the committee’s chairman and members by a decision issued by the President of Dubai Courts, provided that one or more court judges are among them. The same article included the committee’s competencies and powers, including deciding on applications for registration and renewal of the registration of a private notary, and requests from government agencies to register and renew the registration of its employees in the registry, requests to issue and renew permits for offices that provide services of a notary public, and other competencies related to the work of a notary.
The tenth article of the law included the conditions for registration in the register, which is the paper or electronic document prepared with the courts, in which the private notary and the employees of government agencies are registered, after they fulfill the conditions and requirements stipulated in this law.
Article / 14/ of the law details the obligations of the “office”, which is the company or individual institution legally licensed to operate in the Emirate of Dubai, and authorized by the Dubai Courts to provide the services of a notary, and among those obligations: In the office and with every change in their data specified in the register, within five working days from the date of the change taking place, and obtaining the administration’s prior approval of any amendment or change related to the license data issued to it by the licensing authority, and providing the devices, records, documents, and necessary services of the notary and technical systems .

• responsibility for mistakes

According to the new text of Article 14, the office bears full responsibility for the errors committed by the private notary who works for it, including the responsibility to pay the fines prescribed under this law and the decisions issued according to it, and the office must pay the fines within thirty days starting from the day following the date of expiry The duration of the grievance or the issuance of the grievance committee’s decision in accordance with the provisions of this law, and in the event of non-payment, the permit will be suspended until the payment of those fines, and Dubai Courts shall not bear any responsibility towards third parties for the damages they may incur as a result of the office providing notary services under this law and the decisions issued accordingly.
Article /20/ of the law included, according to its new text, granting the Director of Dubai Courts, by a decision issued by him, the power to determine the competencies that a private notary and employees of government agencies registered in the registry may perform from the work of a public notary, and he also has the right to allocate one or more services The public notary, to submit it through the electronic notary.
Article 33 of the law, in its new text, states that the correctness of the editor shall not be affected by any clerical or arithmetic errors that occur in him, while the notary public is exercising his powers, provided that the notary public in this case corrects this error according to what is approved by the director Dubai Courts have procedures in this regard, and if a mistake is made by the concerned parties about any of the data and information recorded in the editor, the notary public may, upon their request, correct it in accordance with the procedures approved by the Director of Dubai Courts.

• digital transactions

In the context of keeping pace with Dubai’s transformation towards a digital environment, Article 35 of the law, in its new text, allows, in accordance with the controls approved by the Director of Dubai Courts, to carry out the work of a notary public using digital transactions, including the actions and procedures it includes, whether related to identity verification, or communication with After, electronic signature, payment of fees, or others, and these actions and procedures are considered to be actually realized and arranged for their legal effects without requiring the personal presence of those concerned before the notary, and the traditional and electronic editor organized by the notary has the same authentic legislation in the official document approved The authenticity of the editor may not be challenged except by forgery.
By a decision issued by the President of Dubai Courts, a permanent committee called the “Grievances Committee” shall be formed, according to which its chairman and members are determined, provided that one or more court judges are among them, as well as determining its working mechanism and the legal quorum for the validity of its meetings and decision-making, in accordance with the new text of Article / 36 of the law, which also clarified the tasks and powers of the committee, while Article 37 of the same law clarifies the grievance procedures.
Concerning inspection and guarantees of imposing penalties, Article 39 of the law stipulates that the inspection of offices and notaries shall be in accordance with the mechanism approved by the Director of Dubai Courts pursuant to a decision issued by him in this regard, and the Notary Public Affairs Committee may not impose any penalty on the office or clerk. Justice except after conducting a written investigation and hearing the statements and defense of the office or the notary public, as the case may be. The employees of the Notary Public Department of Dubai Courts, who are named by a decision issued by the Director of Dubai Courts, shall have the capacity of a judicial officer in proving the acts committed in violation of the provisions of this law and the decisions issued pursuant thereto, and for this they shall have the right to write the necessary seizure reports, and seek the assistance of police personnel when necessary.
Law No. /26/ of 2021, amending the provisions of Law No. /4/ of 2013, shall be published in the Official Gazette of the Government of Dubai, and shall come into force from the date of its publication.