Amendment to the Notarial Code – digitizing notarial activities, forming companies online

As you have certainly noticed, as of 1 September 2021, Act No. 300/2021 Coll., amending Act No. 358/1992, on notaries and their activities (Notarial Code), as amended, and Act No. 634/2004 Coll., on administration fees, as amended, has entered into effect.

The main points of the amendment are:

1. drafting of electronic notarial deeds of a commercial nature has been made possible without a notary being present in person, and
2. Collection of Documents and Registration of Electronic Signatures have been set up, where everyone will be able to check whether a notarial deed or certified signature is true, based on a serial number or QR code.

As a novelty, you can now form a business company on-line and save both money and time. You can have everything done from the comfort of your PC within 30 minutes. The option of payment via payment gateway is a matter of course.

The founding procedure in practice:

1. Prepare the basic information about your new company and its founders, bodies etc.
2. Open the website https://www.nkcr.cz/sro-online in your browser.
3. Log in using your e-identity or bank identity. Select the notary and, if necessary, the language.
4. After filling in the required information, you will enter into a virtual conference room with the notary (videoconference), where you can exchange documents, consult their contents and sign them. To do this, you will need a camera linked to your PC.
5. The output will be a notarial deed written in electronic form, which will contain recognized electronic signatures of the parties or their representatives (if you do not have an electronic signatures, it will be created ad hoc upon the formation), qualified signature of the notary and other elements standardly contained in a notarial deed written in a documentary form, except for an imprint of the official notarial stamp, which will not be required where a notarial deed has been written electronically.
6. Pay via payment gateway.
7. The notary will register the company into the Commercial Register.

Unfortunately, the desired promptness of the entire formation procedure is hindered by the fact that it is still not possible to notify trades to the Trade Licensing Authority online. However, this should no longer be an obstruction as of July 2022.

For the time being, a new company formed on-line must notify, after its formation, its trade license to the Trade Licensing Authority and to submit its Memorandum of Association and a proof of the right to use the premises where the company’s registered office is located to the Trade Licensing Authority. In case of notifiable trades, the trade license comes into existence upon the date of notification of the trade, or on any later date as might be stated in the notification.

Notaries can, for the time being, register new companies formed on-line into the Commercial Register without their subjects of business, only with the subjects of activities, such as “lease of real properties, apartments and non-residential premises “.

If you prefer to form your company in the “traditional” way and to meet the notary in person, it is still an option.

If you need any assistance with the formation of a new company or any other services, please contact us at info@advokatky.cz .

Mgr. Alexandra Kábrtová, Trainee Attorney

Pajerová Sedláčková ADVOKÁTKY s.r.o.

15 November 2021