The obligation to physically visit a notary to sign certain public documents is no longer required.

Physical presence at the notary: As of today, the Law 11/2023 of May 8, which transposes European Union Directives related to the digitization of notarial and registration acts, comes into effect, amending the Notary Law of May 28, 1862, through its Article 34.

In this regard, Article 17 ter of the Notary Law establishes the legal acts or transactions for which notarization and authorization can be carried out through videoconferencing. So your physical presence at the notary will not be required for the following:

·      Commercial policies.
·      The formation of companies, appointments, and commercial powers of attorney, as well as the execution of any other corporate act, provided that contributions by partners to the share capital are in cash.
·      Powers of attorney for legal representation, for dealings with public authorities, as well as electoral powers and powers for specific acts. It’s important to clarify that general or preventive powers of attorney cannot be authorized via videoconferencing (these are powers of attorney executed in case the capacity to express one’s will is lost).
·      Revocation of powers of attorney, except for general preventive powers.
·      Payment letters and guarantees cancellations.
·      General meeting minutes and minutes of reference in a strict sense.
·      Certification of signature legitimacy.
·      Testaments in situations of declared epidemics during the confinement obligation.
·      Declarations of new construction without extinguishing joint ownership, nor property allocation, and the division of horizontal property.
·      Conciliation, unless the notary deems physical presence necessary.
·      Any legal acts and transactions for which regulatory measures establish the possibility.

It is essential to remember that this is an alternative to the traditional physical presence at the notary / in-person system and will probably have some issues at the beginning, as with all new systems…