Notaries must have post-graduate education
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.