CNUE President 2013 - Frank Molitor, Luxembourg

The year 2013 will be one of both challenges and opportunities for the European notariat.

Following European-level developments in 2011 and 2012, in particular, many issues that will have an impact on the Notariat still remain to be resolved. The European notariat, which always has an open mind about European projects aimed at making life easier for citizens, will continue to strive to assist in the development of balanced legislative and regulatory solutions, taking into consideration the organisation of Member States’ legal systems as it does so.

With regard to the new EU instruments that have already come into force, the European notariat will remain readily available to assist in the implementation process by making notaries as well as European citizens familiar with the new measures.

Thus, for example, in 2013 we will provide help with the first steps towards the practical application on the ground of cross-border cooperation between European notaries in real estate sales transactions, following the decision in favour of a technical application taken by the European notariat’s General Assembly on 14 December 2012.

In addition, on 18 March 2013 the European notariat will be joined by its partners and friends at the Solvay Library in Brussels to celebrate its 20th anniversary. On this occasion, four new EU instruments that are hugely relevant to EU citizens will be presented. These are the Regulation on international successions, the legislative proposal on matrimonial property regimes, the cross-border real estate transactions and the review of the Brussels I Regulation.

The European notariat, in close collaboration with the European Notarial Network (ENN) and the national notariats, will also organise an extensive continuous training programme for notaries, which will be dedicated to the new Regulation on international successions. It will consist of several regional seminars, a large summit conference and an academic publication.

The large conference will coincide with the 2013 European Day of Civil Justice. The two events will take place on 25 October, and will bring together not only European and national political decision-makers, but also notaries and academics from across Europe. During the conference, European citizens will have the opportunity to learn about procedures for cross-border matters in the areas of succession and family law.

Finally, the Luxembourg notariat is extremely honoured by the fact that it is under its Presidency that the Croatian notariat will be welcomed as the 22nd member of the European notarial family.