Berlin, 6 September 2024. In a preliminary ruling handed down yesterday, the European Court of Justice has established that German notaries act as public officials in the general interest and therefore are not deemed to provide “legal advice services” covered by EU sanctions. Notarisation is a task entrusted to notaries by the state, which they performs independently and impartially.
The case involved a notary who refused to notarise a purchase agreement for a flat in Berlin belonging to a Russian company. In the opinion of the Berlin Regional Court, it could not be ruled out that such a notarisation would violate the ban on providing legal advice to legal entities established in Russia. The European Union had issued this general ban in 2022 in order to increase pressure on Russia to end its war of aggression against Ukraine. The EU Commission has adopted the view that notarisation also falls under this ban on legal advice.
The ECJ's decision establishes that notarisation and its execution by notaries is not subject to EU sanctions because notaries are not service providers in the field of legal advice and moreover do not represent any specific interests of the parties, instead acting impartially while maintaining an equal distance from the parties and their respective interests, thereby solely upholding the law and ensuring legal certainty. Notaries perform tasks in the public interest that would have to be fulfilled by government authorities in their absence.
This is the first judgement on EU sanctions against Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Redeker lawyers Dr Ulrich Karpenstein and Dr Roya Sangi, Máster en Filosofía Política argued before the European Court of Justice that the ban on legal advice should be interpreted narrowly and in particular cannot be applied to notaries.
