Professional secrecy, Notaries' Code, Law 2830/2000 Articles 1, 8, 13
Establishes absolute professional secrecy and a permanent duty to preserve notarial acts.
Notaries
Compliance for notary offices
Digitising the Transfer and Mortgage Registers ended paper record-keeping, and created the sector's biggest digital exposure.
Legislation
Your obligations
Mandatory electronic Transfer & Mortgage Registers, Decision ΠΡ 1187/2427324/2024
Since May 2024, record-keeping is exclusively electronic (Hellenic Cadastre), paper registers were abolished.
e-notariat, myPROPERTY and the digital Will Registry, Law 5221/2025 Articles 119–122
Every notary now handles sensitive cryptographic tokens and digital transfer-tax declarations.
Anti-money laundering, Law 4557/2018
Notaries are "obliged entities" with a 5-year record-keeping duty for KYC.
Recovery design
The chain of a digital deed
The value of backup is not merely recovering a PDF; it is preserving the relationship between the deed, its annexes, and evidence from government platforms.
Deed, drafts, and annexes
The final deed, drafts, authorisations, and supporting evidence should recover into the same matter without losing which version was executed.
Cadastre and myPROPERTY
Submission receipts, protocol numbers, tax declarations, and corrections need a shared chronology with the documents that produced them.
Cryptographic boundaries
Private keys and signing-device PINs are not copied as ordinary files. The recovery plan separately records applications, public certificates, and the reissuance procedure.
The Hellenic DPA received 1,414 complaints in 2023 alone, and fines have escalated every year since, digital documentation is no longer optional for any profession handling sensitive personal or property data.
Practical answers
Questions from notaries
Does electronic filing replace a notary's local matter file?
No. A public or sector portal does not necessarily retain drafts, supporting evidence, signed versions, filing receipts, and correspondence as one coherent matter file. Backup should be designed around the complete deed file that is agreed as the protection scope.
Which records should be restored first after a workstation loss?
Active deeds with deadlines will usually come first: the latest reviewed draft, supporting documents, the signed version where available, and evidence of related filings. The exact recovery order is recorded in the Order Form and tested through an agreed scenario.
Are databases used by notarial applications covered automatically?
The standard service covers files and folders on agreed workstations. An application or database needs a separate technical assessment to confirm the correct backup method, data consistency requirements, and its recovery procedure.
The Fix
How ArvaSafe covers this
- Backup of the digital files and folders included in the written service scope
- The retention period is defined in writing for each data category in the Order Form, based on the customer's instructions and legal or professional assessment
- Any immutability applies only when defined in writing in the contract documents
- The selected storage region and relevant providers are recorded in the Order Form and DPA
Sources
Official references
Related professions
Compare documentation and recovery needs
Each profession has a different working file, access model, and recovery order.
Accounting FirmsLaw 5104/2024, myDATA, e-invoicing, and when retention beyond the five-year floor may be appropriate.Insurance OfficesLaw 4583/2018, customer-needs evidence, policy records, and stronger protection for health and claims data.Law OfficesLegal professional privilege (Law 4194/2013) becomes a technical requirement once GDPR Article 32 applies.Clinics & PracticesLaw 3418/2005: a 10-year legal minimum for private practices, 20 for clinics, the strictest retention floor of any sector we serve.