Notaries must have post-graduate education

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

People pursuing a career as notaries will now need to have university degrees in law and a master's degree in the notarial profession, according to the newly endorsed notarial profession bill.

To obtain their licenses, however, law graduates and notary certificate holders must also join a compulsory one-year apprenticeship at a notary office.

The justice ministry has the power to recognize, discipline and disbar notaries.

Pending the bill's enactment into law by the president, current notaries are allowed to continue in their jobs and those who have untaken notarial studies are allowed begin their career as notaries.

Article 15 of the bill, which was endorsed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday, says a notary has the authority to issue authentic certificates on all acts, agreements, and decisions required by existing law and set the date for the issuance of legal certificates.

Article 18 states that while notaries are based in a regency or municipality, they can work anywhere in the province where their offices are located.

Article 36 says that notaries have the right to earn honorariums, depending on the value of the object they are handling. For an object worth not more than Rp 100 million (US$10,869), notaries can receive no more than 2.5 percent of the object's value.

They are entitled to honorariums worth 1.5 percent of all objects valued at between Rp 100 million and Rp 1 billion.

For object valued above Rp 1 billion, the honorarium must not exceed 1 percent.

The House unanimously approved the bill during a plenary session presided over by House deputy speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

If enacted, the bill will replace the 144-year-old law on notaries, the Reglement op Het Notaris Ambt in Indonesie, which was first enforced by the Dutch colonial regime.

Speaking on the bill, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said it would provide notaries with legal certainty.

Yusril said there were at least two contentious issues during the deliberation, namely the minimum education requirement for notaries and the compulsory apprenticeship.

The government supported the House's proposal for a one-year mandatory internship program for notary candidates. Earlier it had insisted the apprenticeship last two years.

It took the House and the government three weeks to deliberate the bill, which was initially proposed by House legislators. The government, however, submitted its own version on July 29, to compliment the House's draft during the deliberation.

The House also endorsed the domestic violence and the national development planning bills on Tuesday.

It has been speeding up the deliberation of bills before its members' terms end at the end of this month.