Andorra publishes Law 21/2026 which recasts all notary regulation

The General Council has finalized the consolidated text of Law 21/2026, of October 1, on the Notary, which recasts all regulations regarding notarial public faith into a single set of articles. The regulation is published in the Official Bulletin of the Principality of Andorra (BOPA) no. 122, of October 28, 2026, within the section of the General Council and with a length of 28 pages. It enters into force the day after publication, that is, October 29, 2026.

The consolidation project was approved on October 1, 2026, once the one-month period from the publication in the Bulletin of the General Council had elapsed without the general councilors or the parliamentary groups raising objections, as provided for in article 121.6 of the chamber’s Regulations. The text bears the date of the Casa de la Vall and the signature of the general syndic, Carles Ensenyat Reig, and has been sanctioned and promulgated by the co-princes Emmanuel Macron, co-prince and president of the French Republic, and Josep-Lluís Serrano Pentinat, co-prince and bishop of Urgell.

The consolidation closes a regulatory chain that began with the Notary Law of November 28, 1996, and the General Notary Regulations of February 20, 1998, and continued with Law 11/2017, of May 25, on the Notary, modified by various regulations, and with Law 14/2021, of May 28, on the consolidated text of the Notary. The latter had been amended by Law 41/2022, of December 1, regarding housing, and by Law 29/2022, of July 21, on the public service. The repealing provision of the new law specifically renders Law 14/2021 ineffective.

A set of 74 articles and an annex with the seal

The text is organized into three titles —legal regime; Chamber of Notaries, General Archive of Protocols, and Registry of last will dispositions; and public instruments— and is broken down into 74 articles.

• Two transitional provisions, one repealing provision, and two final provisions.
• A final annex with the model of the notaries’ seal.
• Paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 7 have the status of a qualified law; the rest of the regulation is ordinary law.

Article 1 attributes to the notary the exercise of public faith in all private law relations that are intended to be established or declared without the intervention of jurisdictional bodies, and defines the notary as the legal professional invested with a public function. The scope of action extends to the entire territory of the Principality and the service is mandatory, with a closed list of causes that justify the refusal to intervene.

Sanctions of up to 50,000 euros and expulsion from the profession

The liability regime establishes three degrees of infringement and the corresponding sanctions:

• Very serious: expulsion from the profession, disqualification for up to five years, and a fine of 5,001 to 50,000 euros.
• Serious: disqualification for up to one year and a fine of 1,001 to 5,000 euros.
• Minor: written warning and a fine of up to 1,000 euros.
• Statute of limitations: four years for very serious offenses, two for serious offenses, and six months for minor offenses.

The disciplinary body is composed of the president of the Chamber of Notaries, two representatives from the Ministry of Justice, and one from the Ministry of Finance. The procedure provides for a statement of charges within a maximum period of one month, ten business days for allegations, and fifteen business days to resolve, and the resolution exhausts the administrative route.

Free choice of notary, insurance, and digital protocols

The law enshrines the right to the free choice of notary and determines the criterion when there are several granting parties:

• In sales transactions, the choice always belongs to the buyer; in loans with mortgage guarantees, to the borrower.
• The number of notaries is fixed by the Government, with a minimum of four and a maximum of one per 10,000 inhabitants.
• Mandatory and current civil liability insurance for a minimum amount of 600,000 euros.
• Retirement at sixty-five years of age.
• Free delivery, at the notary’s expense, of indexed and digitized protocols to the General Archive of Protocols, which houses those older than twenty-five years; those older than one hundred years are transferred to the National Archive of Andorra.

Public instruments must be drafted in Catalan, with a sworn translator or interpreter when the appearing person does not understand the language, and marginal notes must be communicated within a maximum period of three business days. Regarding housing, the notary must communicate to the responsible ministry any indications of non-compliance with the right of first refusal or retraction.

The relevance of the regulation is twofold: for professionals, because it unifies in a single text the regime of access, fees —fixed by a scale approved by regulation by the Government upon a non-binding proposal from the Chamber of Notaries—, incompatibilities, and discipline; for citizens and real estate agencies, because it clarifies who chooses the notary in each operation, which copies can be obtained and with what guarantees, and because the law enters into force on October 29, 2026.

Source: Official Bulletin of the Principality of Andorra, no. 122, October 28, 2026, General Council — Laws, pp. 1-28 (official reference: Law 21/2026, of October 1, on the consolidated text of the notariat).