Cap. 55 ст. 94CProcedure for review of notarial acts.

(1) For the purposes of this article, unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions shall apply:

"acts" means all original acts, except those acts inter vivos published in terms of Part IIIA of the Act, published up to and including 31st December 2011 which by 31st December 2012 were either not deposited at the Archives or although deposited therein have not been reviewed at any time in terms of law;

"Chief Notary" has the same meaning assigned to it in article 94A;

"notaries" means all notaries appointed according to the Act and shall include all notary keepers and any other person having custody of any notarial act for any reason; "period of presentation" shall mean the month established in sub-article (3) in the year as established in sub-article (4)(a); "review" has the meaning assigned to it in article 94B;

"review officers" has the same meaning assigned to it in article 94A;

"wills" means original wills; and includes the original acts of delivery of secret wills published up to 31st December 2011, which by 31st December 2012 were either not deposited at the Archives or although deposited therein were not reviewed in terms of law at any time.

(2) (a) Every Notary shall in pursuance to this Act submit, in the period of presentation, all acts held by him for review, in accordance with the terms established in this article to the Notarial Council and for this purpose the provisions of article 94A(2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7)(a), (7)(b), (7)(d), (8), (11), (17), (18)(a)(i) and (ii) and the provisos thereof, (b)(i), (c), (d), (e), (19), (20), (21) and

(22) shall apply.

(b) Notaries shall also present the copy of the notes of enrolment given to the notary by the Director of Public Registry in terms of articles 50(6) and 52(3).

(c) The coming into force of this article shall be deemed for all purposes of law to be sufficient notice to the notaries to whom this article applies of their obligation to present on the dates and in the places mentioned therein the acts, wills, relative indexes, and all other documents as required by this article and the Act.

(3) The Notarial Council shall for the purpose of sub-article (2) cause to be published in the Gazette, a notice containing the names of Review Officers assigned to review the acts and of the notaries who are assigned to the said review officers to have their acts reviewed by them as well as the place and month where such acts are to be presented during the period of presentation.

(4) (a) Notaries shall present to the Review Officers by the dates mentioned hereunder all acts in their possession:

(i) published on or after the 1st January 2010 and up to the 31st December 2011, by not later than the 1st October 2019;

(ii) published on or after the 1st January 2008 and up to the 31st December 2009, by not later than the 1st October 2020;

(iii) published on or after the 1st January 2006 and up to the 31st December 2007, by not later than the 1st October 2021;

(iv) published on or after the 1st January 2004 and up to the 31st December 2005, by not later than the 1st October 2022;

(v) published on or after the 1st January 2002 and up to the 31st December 2003, by not later than the 1st October 2023;

(vi) published on any date up to and including the year 2001, by not later than the 1st October 2024.

(b)The Notarial Council may, if circumstances so warrant at its discretion at any time, postpone by means of a notice to be published in the Gazette, by a calendar year, the schedule of presentation established in sub-article (4)(a) or other schedules published by the Notarial Council in terms of this article.

(5) Notaries shall be obliged to present to the Chief Notary or the Review Officer appointed by the Notarial Council by not later than the 1st October 2019 all wills in their possession published on any date up to and including the year 2011.

(6) (a) During the period of presentation every notary shall present to a Review Officer on dates and in places mentioned in the notice referred to in sub-article (3), in volumes bound as required by the Act, all the acts as determined in sub-article (4), including their respective indexes. They shall also present the notes of enrolment, or a copy thereof, given to the notary by the Director of Public Registry in terms of articles 50(6) and 52(3).

(b)The Notarial Council shall ensure that the presentation of acts be conducted in a transparent and orderly manner.

(c)For the purposes of sub-article (2) and in addition to the notice mentioned in sub-article (3), the Notarial Council may cause to be published at any time in the Gazette a notice containing the following:

(i) the names and surnames of all notaries who were known to have practised their profession prior to 2012, during the years which would be the subject of the review;

(ii) the name of the Review Officer assigned to each notary;

(iii) a schedule indicating the month and place of presentation of the acts, including their indexes to the respective Review Officer for his review;

(iv) the publication of the notice mentioned in sub-paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) shall be deemed for all purposes of law to be sufficient notice to the notaries mentioned therein to present on the dates and in the places mentioned in the notice the acts and wills and their indexes, and all other documents as required by this article;

(v) the Notarial Council shall cause to be published in the Gazette any amendment it may deem opportune to any notice made in the Gazette, in terms of this article, but such amendment shall not be effective with regard to a Review Officer, notary or notary keeper referred to therein unless at least one month elapses from the date when the said notice appears in the Gazette.

(7) (a) It shall be the duty of the Chief Notary to ensure that all wills published during the years which are subject of review, are presented to him in the Archives during the period of presentation so that he may review them, and that within two months immediately following the completion of the period of review such wills are inspected by the Court in terms of this Act.

(b) For the purposes of this article, all notaries shall present to the Chief Notary in bound volumes as required by this Act the wills which they published during the years which would be the subject of the review, and all the provisions on the functions and powers of Review Officers regarding the presentation of acts shall apply to the Chief Notary, and the notaries mutatis mutandis shall have the same duties with regard to such presentation.

(c) The presentation of wills shall be made to the Chief Notary in terms of the notice referred to in this article and all the provisions of sub-article (6)(a) and sub-article (11) of article 94A shall apply: mutatis mutandis Provided that where the notary appears through a special attorney, the Chief Notary shall not proceed to accept the presentation of wills unless the special attorney is also a notary who shall be bound to observe the same professional secrecy and confidentiality as required of the notary who published them.

(8) All acts which are subject to the review as established in this article shall be reviewed within one year from the date of their presentation by a Notary, which time frame may be reasonably extended by the Court on a request by a Review Officer, whilst the time frame for the revision of wills shall not exceed ten years from the date of the coming into force of this article which time may be reasonably extended by the Court on the request of the Chief Notary.

(9) No fees shall be due by notaries for the presentation of the acts and wills mentioned in this article.