Digitaliser le notariat, entre évolution de l’identité professionnelle et maintien du monopole

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 2000s, the notarial profession is going through a process of modernization, which is today reflected in the digitalization of many activities and services. This article shows how the digitalization of activities has gradually become an opportunity for notaries to assert their added value towards citizens, while strengthening their position in the Belgian judicial system. Based on qualitative research within Belgian notary's offices, we analyze the implementation of two digital applications (eRegistration and Biddit). Such applications modify two important activities of the profession: the registration of authentic acts and the public sales of real estate. Based on a socio-ergonomic analysis of the activities and discourses of multiple notaries involved in digitalization, we show how such digital applications have contributed to the evolution of the professional identity of notaries. At the institutional level, we discuss the central role played by the notaries' professional federation (Fednot) in the digitalization of the profession. Our results show that the digitalization of the profession reinforces an already existing tension between two roles related to the notarial activity in Belgium: the role of state officer and that of entrepreneur.