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Notaries Law, 5736-1976

חוק הנוטריונים, תשל"ו-1976

Published: 1976-06-11Last amended 2026-02-03✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-29
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Unofficial English translation — for reference only. It may contain errors or omissions and cannot be relied on as a legal text. Only the Hebrew text published in Reshumot is legally binding.More

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The Hebrew text as published in Reshumot (ספר החוקים) and on the Knesset website is the sole authoritative and legally binding version. In any discrepancy, the Hebrew text prevails.

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Chapter I: Licensing

Licensing Committee§

1.

A notary licence shall be granted by a licensing committee of seven members to be appointed by the Minister of Justice, two of whom shall be appointed on the proposal of the Bar Association; the chairperson shall be a jurist who is a State employee, at least two members shall be public representatives, and at least one member shall be a notary.

Eligibility§

2.
(a)A person in whom all of the following conditions are fulfilled is eligible to be a notary:
(1)he is an Israeli citizen or a permanent resident of Israel; for this purpose, "permanent resident of Israel" means a person who holds a permanent residence permit in Israel under the Entry into Israel Law, 5712-1952;
(2)he is a member of the Bar Association and one of the following conditions is fulfilled:
(a)he has practised as an advocate for at least 10 years, of which at least five and a half years were in Israel;
(b)(Repealed)
(c)he has practised as an advocate for at least 10 years, of which at least two years were in Israel, and submitted his application for a licence within seven years from the day on which he first became a resident of Israel;
(3)he has not been convicted, in Israel or outside it, of a criminal offence involving moral turpitude;
(4)he has not been expelled or suspended from the Bar Association in Israel pursuant to a final judgment in disciplinary proceedings, other than proceedings under section 78 of the Bar Association Law, 5721-1961 (hereinafter – the Bar Law), and his licence has not been revoked nor its validity suspended in disciplinary proceedings under the Notaries for Foreign Documents Law, 5710-1950;
(5)the licensing committee has found him fit to be a notary, having taken into account, inter alia, disciplinary penalties imposed on him under the Bar Law or the Notaries for Foreign Documents Law, 5710-1950, within 10 years before the grant of the licence, other than those referred to in paragraph (4).
(b)The licensing committee may grant a person a notary licence even if he has been convicted as stated in subsection (a)(3) if ten years have elapsed from the day on which he completed serving his sentence, and even if one of the penalties referred to in subsection (a)(4) has been imposed on him if ten years have elapsed from the day on which the penalty was imposed.
(c)The licensing committee may make the grant of a notary licence conditional upon participation in a short training course of the format to be determined by the committee; the participant shall bear the cost of his participation in the training course, in whole or in part, as the committee shall determine.

Tenures Treated as Practice as an Advocate§

3.

For the purposes of section 2(a)(2), a period of tenure as a judge, as a member of a religious court, or in another legal position approved by the Minister of Justice by Order for the purposes of this section, shall be treated as a period of practice as an advocate in Israel, and a period of tenure as a judge or as a notary abroad shall be treated as a period of practice as an advocate abroad.

Objection§

4.
(a)If the committee finds that the eligibility conditions set out in section 2(a) are fulfilled in the licence applicant, or decides that there is cause to exercise the power under section 2(b), it shall publish the application at the time and in the manner prescribed in the Regulations.
(b)Any person may submit to the licensing committee, at the time and in the manner prescribed in the Regulations, a reasoned objection to the grant of the licence to the applicant, but the committee shall not reject the application on the basis of the objection before it has given the applicant an opportunity to present his arguments.

Register of Notaries and Licence Fee§

5.

Before a notary begins to serve —

(1)he shall sign his name in the Register of Notaries, which shall be maintained under the supervision of the Minister of Justice;
(2)he shall submit to the person authorised for that purpose by the Minister of Justice a specimen of his signature and seal, in the manner prescribed in the Regulations;
(3)he shall pay the fee prescribed in the Regulations.

Annual Fee§

6.
(a)The holder of a notary licence shall pay, no later than 31 January of each year, an annual fee at the rate prescribed in the Regulations; if the fee has not been paid as aforesaid, the following surcharges shall be added:
(1)if the fee was paid in the period between 1 February and 31 March – 10%;
(2)if the fee was paid in the period between 1 April and 30 September – 50%;
(3)if the fee was paid after 30 September – 100%;
(4)if the fee was paid after that year, it shall bear, in addition to the payment of double the fee as referred to in paragraph (3), also linkage differentials on the prescribed fee amount, according to the Consumer Price Index published by the Central Bureau of Statistics, from the index published in the month of December preceding the due date of the fee for that year until the index most recently published before its actual payment.
(a1)If the holder of a notary licence has not paid the fee for a given year by the end of the month of March of the following year, he shall not be entitled to serve as a notary for as long as he has not paid the fee for that year as referred to in subsection (a)(4).
(a2)
(1)A notary whose licence has been suspended under section 39(a)(4), 43a or 44, after having paid an annual fee, shall not be entitled to a refund of any amount paid;
(2)A notary who has given notice that he requests to resume serving as a notary as referred to in section 44a(b) shall pay, as a condition for the renewal of the licence, a pro-rata annual fee in an amount equal to the product of the annual fee multiplied by the number of months of the year remaining from the date of the notice until the month of December of that year, divided by 12; for this purpose, part of a month shall be treated as a full month.
(b)A notary who has not paid the annual fee for five years shall have his licence lapse.
(c)The Minister of Justice may prescribe in Regulations a different rate of annual fee for the holder of a notary licence who is aged seventy years or more.

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Chapter II: Powers of the Notary

Powers of the Notary§

7.

A notary is competent —

(1)to authenticate a signature on a document;
(2)to certify that the person who signed a document on behalf of another was competent to do so;
(3)to certify the accuracy of a copy of a document;
(4)to certify the accuracy of a translation of a document;
(5)to take and certify an affidavit and any other declaration;
(6)to certify that a particular person is alive;
(7)to certify the accuracy of an inventory list;
(8)to draw up the noting of a negotiable instrument;
(9)to draw up a document or to perform any other act in respect thereof where the drawing up or performing of the act by a notary is required or permitted by law, including the law of a foreign state, or by another document;
(10)to exercise the powers of a public notary under any other law;
(11)to authenticate a financial agreement between spouses, entered into before marriage.

Exclusivity of Acts§

8.

An act of the kind listed in section 7(1), (3), (7), (8) and (9), where the notarial document is required for use abroad, including at a representation of a foreign state in Israel, shall not be performed except by a notary.

Preservation of Powers§

9.

Nothing in the provisions of this Chapter shall prevent the performance of an act by a public official authorised to do so in the discharge of his duties, or by any other person authorised to do so under an enactment.

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Chapter III: Manner and Conditions of Performing a Notarial Act

Prohibition on Use of Power for the Benefit of Relatives§

10.
(a)A notary shall not exercise any of his powers in a matter concerning himself, his relative, his partner, his employee, or a corporation under his control.
(b)For the purposes of this section, a "relative" of the notary means —
(1)a spouse;
(2)a parent, grandparent, parent-in-law, descendant, descendant-in-law, and the spouses of each of these;
(3)a brother or sister and their spouses.

Authentication of Signature§

11.

A notary shall not authenticate a person's signature on a document unless the signatory stood before him, was identified, and signed the document in his presence.

Certification of Copy§

12.

A notary shall not certify that a particular document is a true copy of the original unless the original was produced before him and he compared the two and found them to be identical.

Certification of Accuracy of an Inventory List§

13.

A notary shall not certify the accuracy of an inventory list unless he drew it up or it was drawn up in his presence and he is knowledgeable in the subject matter of the inventory.

Certification that a Person is Entitled to Sign on Behalf of Another§

14.

A notary shall not certify that a person who signed a document on behalf of another is entitled to sign it in that manner, unless his right to sign has been proved to the notary by documents that constitute evidence of the matter, and if he signed on behalf of a corporation – by a register maintained pursuant to an enactment, whether by a public official or in another manner, or by another document that constitutes evidence of the matter.

Certification of Translation§

15.

A notary shall not certify the accuracy of a translation unless he is proficient in the language in which the original was drawn up and in the language into which it was translated, and he himself prepared the translation or verified its accuracy.

Certification that a Person is Alive§

16.

A notary shall not certify that on a particular day a particular person was alive unless that person stood before him on that day and was identified.

Non-Stamping§

17.

A notary shall not exercise his power in respect of a document that is not duly stamped.

Manner of Performance of a Notarial Act§

18.

The Minister of Justice may prescribe in Regulations additional manners and conditions in which a notary shall perform a notarial act, and may in particular prescribe provisions concerning —

(1)the ascertainment of the legal capacity of the person appearing before him for the purpose of performing the notarial act and of his properly understanding the significance of the act;
(2)the records that the notary is required to keep of the notarial acts he has performed, the copies of documents in which he has acted that he is required to retain, and the manner of keeping all of these and the duration thereof.

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Chapter IV: Consequences of a Notarial Act

Effect of a Certificate§

19.

A certificate of a notary under this Law and the Regulations made thereunder shall constitute sufficient evidence in legal proceedings, without need for further proof, of the statements and acts of the notary and of the statements and acts of others that were said or done in his presence, all as stated in the certificate.

Power of Attorney§

20.
(a)A general power of attorney and a power of attorney for the performance of transactions in real property requiring registration in the Land Registry shall not be valid unless a notary has drawn them up or authenticated the signatures thereon, as provided in this Law and the Regulations made thereunder; this provision does not derogate from section 91 of the Bar Law.
(a1)Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), a power of attorney given to a banking corporation as defined in the Banking (Customer Service) Law, 5741-1981, for the performance of a mortgage transaction, including its cancellation, transfer, amendment of its terms, or any other act connected with the registration of the transaction, shall be valid even if a notary has not drawn it up or authenticated the signatures thereon.
(b)This section does not apply to a power of attorney given abroad in accordance with the laws of the place in which it was given.

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Chapter V: Professional Ethics

Preservation of Professional Dignity§

21.

A notary shall preserve the dignity of the profession and shall refrain from anything liable to harm the dignity of the profession.

Duty of Loyalty§

22.

In the discharge of his duties a notary shall act with loyalty and dedication; if the notary has been requested to perform an act on behalf of more than one person, he owes equal loyalty to all parties and it is immaterial which of them pays his fee.

Regulation of Advertising§

23.

A notary shall not engage, directly or indirectly, in advertising his practice except in accordance with the rules made under section 55 of the Bar Association Law; the rules made under that section with respect to the indication of name and profession shall likewise apply to a notary.

Prohibition of Solicitation to Obtain Work§

24.

A notary shall not solicit, personally or through another, the assignment of professional work to him.

Use of Titles§

25.

A notary shall not use any title to designate his profession other than the title "notary" or a corresponding foreign-language title prescribed by Regulations, and that title alone; nothing in this provision shall prevent the use of an academic title or a title whose use is regulated by another law.

Restrictions on Partnership§

26.
(a)A notary shall not practise his profession in partnership with a person who is not a notary, and shall not share his income in consideration of services, assistance or any other benefit to his profession; however, a notary may share his income with the widow and minor orphans of any of the following:
(1)his partner or a partner who has retired, if that partner died while still a notary;
(2)a notary whose office he has acquired.
(b)A notary shall perform a notarial act in his own name only, even if he practises in partnership with another notary.
(c)This Section does not come to prevent a partnership between an advocate who is a notary and an advocate who is not a notary.

Prohibition of Employment as a Salaried Employee§

27.

In the discharge of his duties a notary shall not work as a salaried employee.

Professional Secrecy§

28.
(a)A notary shall keep in confidence every matter that has come to his knowledge from a person who has availed himself of his services performed pursuant to law, unless otherwise provided by legislation or unless the client has waived confidentiality in writing.
(b)A person employed in the service of a notary shall maintain the confidentiality of matters that come to his knowledge in the course of his service to the same extent that the notary himself is obliged to maintain their confidentiality.
(c)A notary is obliged to take reasonable measures to ensure that his employees maintain confidentiality as provided in this Section.
(d)This Section shall not apply to a disclosure that the notary or his employee has been ordered to make pursuant to a court order or in legal proceedings.

Prohibition of Use of Information Communicated to the Notary§

29.

A notary shall not use information that has come to him in the discharge of his duties from a person who has availed himself of his service for any purpose other than for the benefit of that person who has availed himself of his service as aforesaid, or with that person's consent.

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Chapter VI: Management and Retention of Documents

Central Archive§

30.

The Minister of Justice may establish a central archive for notarial documents and may require notaries to send to that archive, at the time prescribed by Regulations, a copy of documents or of categories of documents as prescribed by Regulations with the approval of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee of the Knesset.

Maintenance of Books§

31.

A notary shall maintain books in connection with the discharge of his duties, in which his acts shall be recorded in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

Regulations regarding the Handling of and Inspection of Documents§

32.

The Minister of Justice shall prescribe by Regulations—

(1)the categories of persons entitled to inspect documents held in the central archive for notarial documents, including documents transmitted pursuant to section 54, the categories of persons entitled to receive copies thereof, and the procedures for inspection and receipt of copies;
(2)the form and place for the archiving of documents, including books as referred to in section 31, that were in the possession of a notary.

Audit§

33.
(a)A notary shall make available for audit by a person appointed for that purpose by the Minister of Justice the documents he is required to retain and the books he is required to maintain under this Law.
(b)The methods of audit shall be prescribed by Regulations.
(c)A person appointed to conduct an audit under this Section shall keep in confidence every matter that comes to his knowledge in the discharge of his duties and shall not use such information except for the discharge of his duties; this provision does not apply to a disclosure that he has been ordered to make in an investigation pursuant to law or in legal proceedings.

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חוק הנוטריונים, תשל"ו-1976

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