Notary Secrecy Exemption for Fee Collection

The supervisory authority declined to rule on a notary's request for dispensation from professional secrecy to pursue fee claims through debt collection proceedings. The court reasoned that a client's non-payment or dispute of a notarial bill implies acceptance of legal enforcement, thus creating a limited dispensation from confidentiality covering only information relevant to the fee dispute and collection, such as the client relationship and the nature/scope of services rendered. The authority determined that a notary, as a creditor, must have the same enforcement rights via debt collection as any other creditor, and the non-paying debtor implicitly accepts such proceedings, meaning no separate supervisory dispensation is needed for the necessary disclosures in the enforcement process.