The Consiglio Nazionale del Notariato (C.N.N.) is the professional order of notaries. It is made up of 20 notaries directly elected by all practising notaries in three-yearly elections. There is a limit of two consecutive mandates.
The three members of the Audit Committee are elected according to the same procedure.
The 20 elected councillors, after they are installed in office, nominate a President, a Vice President, a Secretary and an Executive Committee.
The tasks of the Consiglio Nazionale del Notariato are defined by the law as follows:
a) to provide opinions to the Ministry of Justice, upon request, as to provisions to be issued concerning the notarial system and matters relating to the profession;
b) to present proposals as and when deemed useful in matters relating to the profession;
c) to gather and coordinate proposals from the Notarial Councils and notaries in general;
d) to carry out research that is of interest to the profession;
e) to protect the interests of the profession;
f) to draw up the principles of professional ethics.
In order to carry out its functions, the Council sets up appropriate Commissions, when necessary engaging the services of non-members having particular specific skills. A special Commission called the "Permanent Monitoring Unit for Professional Ethics" ensures the uniform application nation-wide of the code of ethics, a set of binding rules of behaviour for all notaries, drawn up by the C.N.N. and published for the first time in 1994 (Official Gazette no. 165 of 16 July).
On the other hand, the C.N.N.'s responsibilities do not extend to examining and solving concrete problems or applying disciplinary measures: such questions are handled by the individual District Notaries' Councils.
As the central professional body, the Council handles relations with government bodies operating in fields connected with the notarial function, organizes national congresses and promotes conventions for the study of current problems and new legislation, organizes or sponsors professional refresher courses for practising notaries and adopts suitable provisions that are suggested by queries or complaints of general interest.
The Council has no responsibility regarding competitions for appointment as a notary: its only role in this matter is that of providing the Ministry of Justice with a non-binding list of notaries (at present 18) amongst whom the Ministry may choose the six notaries who, together with six magistrates and three university law lecturers, also nominated by the Ministry, make up the examining commission; the organization and management of the competition is the exclusive preserve of the Ministry.