Tasks of the Brussels Office
One of the main functions of the Brussels representative of the Austrian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries is to liaise with political decision-makers in Brussels, first and foremost with the EU institutions, but also with various lobbies such as the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, the governing body of the Austrian Bar Association, the SME Union, the German Association of Self-Employed Professions, etc.Decisions taken at presidential level are prepared in consultation between the Austrian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries in Vienna and its Brussels office.
One key role is to represent the interests of Austria's civil law notaries within the Conference of Notarial Professions of the European Union (CNUE), the umbrella organisation of European notarial organisations. The Austrian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries is often entrusted with preparing CNUE positions. Here, the Brussels representative has a coordinating function. The Austrian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries is represented within CNUE by its president, Dr. Klaus Woschnak.
In June 2003, the representative of the Austrian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries in Brussels was entrusted with running the secretariat of the Cooperation of Central European Civil Law Notaries. This group is made up of the notarial bodies of Croatia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria. It aims at closer technical cooperation and wants to professional activities following the accession of the majority of these countries to the European Union. The Austrian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries does not have a national expert in the EU Commission.
The major issues for Austria's notarial profession in Brussels are a European legal space in civil matters, European company law (action plan) and corporate policy for SMEs, a European Charter for Small Businesses, the action plan on entrepreneurship, a single market policy for services, competition policy on liberal professions, the action plan eEurope.
The outcome of these activities is reflected in the long-term training and further education of civil law notaries and candidate-notaries, as well as in the development of products and services offered by the Austrian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries.
The Office of the Austrian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries is designed as a service agency responding to enquiries by Austrian civil law notaries and candidate-notaries as well as by citizens (e.g. Austrians living in Brussels).
The explicit mention of the Austrian notarial system as an example by the European Commission in its fourth implementation report on the European Charter for Small Businesses of 14 February 2004 was considered a success. The Brussels office was able to successfully present the position of the Austrian civil law notaries to the European decision-making process on these issues.
