Office of the Notary to Government and
Notarial Archives - Malta Quality Service Charter
Contents
Introduction
Special Commissioner for Notarial Acts
Our Services
Accessibility for Senior
Citizens and Disabled Persons
Where you can find us
Opening hours
Services offered to the public
Archives fees
Quality Service
Our Commitment
What we expect from you
Other information
Your feedback
Complaints
Introduction
The Office of
the Notary to Government and the Notarial Archives make up a single department established
by law in order to provide notarial services to Government Departments and Parastatal
Corporations as regards the publication, preservation and custody of notarial acts. The
Department also offers a service to members of the public wishing to inspect any deed
published by notaries practising in Malta from the fifteenth century to date and to order
a copy thereof. The Department is also a useful source of reference material to
researchers and scholars.
Special Commissioner for Notarial Acts
The office of
the Special Commissioner for Notarial Acts was set up by virtue of the dispositions of Act
X of 1999, the Notarial Acts (Temporary Provisions) Act. The appointment of the said
official is to enable notarial acts, which have not been inspected by the Court of
Revision of Notarial Acts according to law, to be deposited at the Notarial Archives. The
Special Commissioner shall make a preliminary inspection of the notarial acts and deposit
them in the Archives. In this way, a number of acts which have not yet been deposited at the
Archives are made accessible to the public.
Our Services
The Office of the Notary to
Government and Notarial Archives offers the following services:
Notarial services to Government
Departments and Parastatal Corporations
Notarial services to the general
public regarding:
- deeds of sale of grave-sites from
Government
- deeds with officers who are to
follow a course of study/ training paid by Government / Corporation
- contracts of works
- grants to farmers or fishermen
- other deeds as required
Services relating to the
inspection of notarial acts and the issue of copies of deeds from the Notarial Archives
Services to persons who are doing
research for a purely historical, literary or scientific purpose. Such persons are to
submit an application to this end. Once ministerial approval is granted, and subject to
other conditions, the said researchers are exempted from payment of any fees normally
charged for inspecting notarial acts. They also benefit from reduced rates on copying
services carried out by the Department.
Accessibility for Senior
Citizens and Disabled Persons
Senior citizens and
disabled persons who are unable to climb any stairs, will be served on the Office’s
ground-floor. In case of persons using a wheelchair, a ramp will be provided in order to
give them access into the Office.
Where you can find us
Our address,
telephone and fax numbers are:
Address: Office of
the Notary to Government
2,
Mikiel Anton Vassalli Street
Valletta
CMR 02
Tel:
21 237385, 21 224217
Fax:
21 234696
Your may also
contact us via e-mail at
cora.a.vella@gov.mt
Opening hours
Our opening
hours are as follows:
We are
open all day from 7.30 am to 15.00 , Monday to Friday
Besides the main Archives, there is an
Archives branch at 24, St Christopher Street, Valletta, which is open to
the public between 7.30 a.m. and 15.00. Kindly contact Main Office on
21237385 or 21224217 before visiting.
Services offered to the public--
requisites
If you wish to trace
a deed or will, for purposes of inspection or ordering a copy thereof, we will require the
following information:
— the name of
the Notary
— the date of
the deed or will
— the nature of
deed, e.g. sale, emphyteusis, partition, exchange, etc.
— the parties
to the deed or will
— In the case
of a will, if one is already in possession of a Death Certificate,
this can be produced when ordering a copy. Otherwise the Department
will obtain a copy from the Public Registry for the client at no
extra cost. The testator / testatrix or a person
authorised by him/her may inspect his/her will or request a copy thereof provided that
he/she shows his/her identity card when requested.
Archives fees
The fees for
services provided by the Archives section are as follows:
— Legal photocopies:€1.16 per page
— Informal
photocopies:
€0.70 per page
— Inspections
of a notarial act:€0.58 per act
— Photocopies
requested by researchers:
€0.12
per page (on provision of the authorisation required by law.
See above under "Our Services")
Quality Service
We aim to
deliver our service in a courteous and efficient manner. We will provide you with volumes
for inspection within ten minutes. Payment of an ordered copy can be effected upon making
the order and the copy shall be sent to you by post within five days. You may also collect
your copies personally three days after the date of order. In certain cases, you may be
asked to collect copies of wills personally.
Our Commitment
We commit ourselves
to providing you with an efficient and courteous service. We will make sure our staff have
the necessary training to give you adequate guidance in legal matters and to refer you to
one of the Notaries in the Office should the need arise. We assure you that you will find
our copying service efficient, that all orders are delivered on time and that the office
environment is kept clean and welcoming. In genuinely urgent matters we will do our utmost
to deal with your request within the day.
What we expect from you
You may help us
provide a better service by:
making sure that you provide us
with the information requested promptly and accurately and informing us immediately should
you have any difficulties with our service to enable us to redress the situation as soon
as possible.
being courteous to members of our
staff.
obeying the rules set out in the
Notarial Archives, such as: not smoking in prohibited areas, refraining from scribbling on
any volume and being careful not to damage any documents belonging to the Department
Smoking is strictly
prohibited in the Archives; kindly put out any cigarette before entering the Archives.
Other information
The Notarial
Archives date back to the times of the Order of the Knights of St John. They were set up
by Grand Master Lascaris in virtue of an instrument dated 10th July 1640. This
instrument was registered in the Acts of the Order and is found in Manuscript number 469,
ff 260-261, in the National Library of Malta. Notary Salvatore Ciantar was the first
Archivist. The oldest volume preserved in the Archives is that of Notary Paolo Bonello
which dates from 1465 to 1521.
Your feedback
We appreciate
your views on our service. Kindly fill in the feedback form which you may pick up at the
Reception area and hand it to one of the officers in charge. This will help us to improve
the standard of service we deliver.
Complaints
If you feel that the
service offered was not to your satisfaction, you may immediately take the matter up with
the officer you dealt with. If you are still dissatisfied with the outcome, you may lodge
a complaint with the official you are referred to or write a letter to the Head of
Department at the address mentioned above.
You can expect to
receive an acknowledgement within two working days, and a full reply within two weeks from
the day you had lodged your complaint.
After an
investigation on the case is conducted, we shall take measures to ensure that the matter
is dealt with without delay, to your satisfaction and in the best possible manner.
February 2007
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