Beglaubigt.de is the first platform in Europe to make all notarial acts accessible and 100% digital. The foundation for legitimate and legally compliant processing is Section 69b of the Notary Regulations (NO), which was introduced for the first time in 2020 to facilitate notarial services during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since been continuously developed.
The legal amendment paves the way for notarial acts to be conducted electronically and, most importantly, remotely through the use of online identity verification, digital signatures, and videoconferencing. Below, you will find the complete regulation, with further provisions outlined in the Notary E-Identification Regulation.
Section 69b of the Notary Regulations
(1) A notarial deed can also be executed electronically, using an electronic communication option, depending on the available technical conditions. The provisions of this federal law on the preparation of an electronically executed notarial deed apply to its execution, with the deviations arising from paragraphs 2 to 4.
(2) The notary must ensure, through security measures, that the identification and verification of the party not physically present are carried out in a secure and unequivocal manner using an electronic procedure.
- using an official photo ID (§ 36b para. 2 third sentence) as part of a video-supported electronic procedure, or
- through a legally prescribed procedure that securely provides the same information as the presentation of an official photo ID (electronic ID)..
The Federal Minister for Constitutional Affairs, Reforms, Deregulation, and Justice must determine by regulation which measures are to be implemented to compensate for the potentially increased risk of money laundering (§ 165 StGB) or terrorism financing (§ 278d StGB) are required, under which conditions the notary may use a service provider for such identification and verification, and which requirements regarding data security, protection against forgery, and the reliability of the persons performing the identification process must be met. The detailed technical requirements for the procedures under points 1 and 2 are to be regulated in guidelines issued by the Austrian Chamber of Notaries.
The ultimate responsibility for fulfilling the duty of identification remains with the notary. All data collected and processes recorded during the identification and verification of the party using an electronic procedure must be made directly available to the notary to ensure the fulfillment of their due diligence obligations. If the notary is unable to fully meet the identification and other due diligence obligations based on this, the preparation of the notarial deed using an electronic communication option must not proceed.
(3) During the preparation of the notarial deed, all parties must either be physically present before the notary without interruption or be connected with the notary and the other parties in real time through a visual and audio two-way communication system using an electronic communication option. If the connection is temporarily interrupted, the notary must pause the execution of the notarial deed and only continue once the connection has been fully restored.
(4) § 68 applies with the provision that the party connected via an electronic communication option must affix their electronic signature (Art. 3 No. 10 eIDAS Regulation) to the notarial deed before any party who is physically present before the notary. In addition to the information specified in § 68 para. 2, the notary must also indicate in the notarial deed that it was executed using an electronic communication option through a visual and audio two-way connection, and which party participated in the preparation of the notarial deed in this manner; if this information is missing, § 68 para. 2 last sentence applies accordingly.
(5) To the extent that personal data is processed under this provision, it is done in fulfillment of a public task pursuant to § 1, based on the notary's obligation to identify the parties and for the purpose of preventing or combating money laundering (§ 165 StGB) or terrorism financing (§ 278d StGB) in accordance with the provisions of this federal law.