Amendments to the legislation provide for the possibility of remote notarization of decisions of general meetings by using an enhanced qualified electronic signature (EQES).
Federal Law No. 287-FZ of 8 August 2024, along with other amendments introduced by this law to corporate prodecures, established the possibility of remote notarization of decisions of general meetings by amending Article 103.10. Certification of a decision of a body of a legal entity of the Fundamentals of Legislation of the Russian Federation on Notaries dated 1 February 1993 No. 4462-I (“Fundamentals of Legislation on Notaries”). This article was supplemented with a fifth part, according to which, if a participant in a legal entity’s body, its representative, or another person participate remotely in a meeting of a legal entity’s body, the notary can establish their identity by checking their enhanced qualified electronic signature, and the representative’s powers and right to participate in the meeting – by checking documents in electronic form signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature. These changes came into force on 1 September 2024.
However, for now, the possibility of remote notarization applies only to meetings (sessions), while the adopted amendments do not provide for the possibility of remote notarization of decisions of sole participants of companies – Article 103.10-1. Certification of a decision of a sole participant of a legal entity of The Fundamentals of Legislation on Notaries remained unchanged – to certify such decisions, the participant or his representative must still appear in person before the notary.
In the context of other changes to corporate procedures introduced by Federal Law No. 287-FZ, including the requirement for mandatory notarization of minutes on the election of the sole executive body, which complicated compliance with formal requirements, the amendment on remote notarization can help businesses in solving organizational issues. Now shareholders of a JSC or participants in a limited liability company will be able to avoid the necessity to meet at one time and in one place in front of a notary, but the notary will still be able to guarantee the legality of the procedure and the decision taken. This is especially relevant for situations when meeting participants stay abroad and cannot contact a Russian notary (of course, provided that they have an enhanced qualified electronic signature).
In connection with the adopted changes, it is worth thinking about early planning of corporate procedures and taking care in advance to obtain an enhanced qualified electronic signature.