Data from registers on powers of attorney and wills compromised – NCU

During testing of the e-notary system, it was established that the test (training) version contained all data on powers of attorney, wills, and documents registered in the Unified Register of Powers of Attorney and the Inheritance Register copied up to a certain date.

The Notary Chamber of Ukraine declared this an «unprecedented case of violation of notarial secrecy». The corresponding letter No. 41/3 dated 18.09.2025, sent to First Vice-Prime-Minister – Minister of digital transformation Mykhailo Fedorov and Minister of Justice Herman Halushchenko, was published on the NCU website.

Earlier, the State Enterprise «National Information Systems» invited notaries to participate in testing the Unified State Electronic System of E-Notary.

As noted by the NCU, the test (training) version of the e-notary system contains or provides access to information that constitutes notarial secrecy, which is a violation of Article 8 of the Law «On notaries». This is because all powers of attorney and wills that were entered into the aforementioned registers before a certain date became available to all testers (notaries who did not perform these notarial actions, employees of territorial bodies involved in testing the system or organizing testing, a wide range of persons, including developers, donors, organizers, and technical staff).

It appears that the test (training) version was created on the basis of a copy of the existing registries or with access to the existing systems. In such circumstances, the NCU notes, the question arises as to the legality of the grounds and legal consequences of such interference with the electronic registry database, the illegal copying of information from existing registries that constitutes notarial secrecy and personal data, and the opening of access to them for a wide range of individuals.

The NCU also warns that during the testing period from September 3 to 17, 2025, testers had unrestricted access to real information from the Inheritance Register and the Unified Register of Powers of Attorney, and conducted tests based on information posted on the website of the State Enterprise NAIS.

At the same time, notaries were invited to participate in the testing and were assured that the purpose of the testing was to familiarize notaries with the functionality of the new system, check its operation, demonstrate its capabilities, and work out typical scenarios without further impact on the document flow or legal status of persons, which - any changes or additions of information to the test environment do not cause the emergence, change, or termination of real rights, nor do they affect the legal status of citizens.

In view of this, the NCU requests that testing of the e-notary system be stopped.