The Court of the European Union has decided that notary services do not fall under sanctions.
The Court of Justice of the EU has published a decision on case C-109/23. The reason for this was a German notary who refused to register a transaction for the sale of an apartment belonging to a Russian company: two German citizens wanted to buy an apartment in Berlin from a Russian company Visit-Moscow Ltd. The notary refused to sign the contract because he could not rule out the possibility that it would violate current EU sanctions.
As part of the eighth package of anti-Russian sanctions, which was published on October 6, 2022, the EU has banned specialists from providing legal advice on the application and interpretation of law, including advice on commercial transactions. European lawyers have also been prohibited from acting on behalf of clients in commercial transactions, negotiations, or the preparation, execution, and verification of legal documents related to them.
After considering all the circumstances of the case, on September 5, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the certification of a contract by a notary in an EU country for the purchase and sale of real estate located in that country and owned by a Russian legal entity, as well as the translation services provided during such verification of document authenticity, did not fall under a ban on providing legal consulting services to that legal entity.
