THE ROLE OF THE NOTARY AS A TRUSTED THIRD PARTY IN

SUPPORTING LEGAL CERTAINTY IN THE INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION 4.0 AND SOCIETY 5.01

Dr. Edmon Makarim, S.Kom., S.H., LL.M.2

Abstract
It is undisputed that the electronic communication needs information security and/or secured
communication in order to facilitate the electronic transaction. In order to eliminate the potential of
repudiation from the parties, the party would prefer to have a trusted third-party services in their
communication. Conventionally, the Public Notary could be said as the trusted third-party in providing
their legal services to the public. The trusted third-party services and Public Notary would have the same
role and function when the Notary get involved with the electronic transaction of the Parties. In the recent
development regarding electronic signature, European Directive on e-Signature has been changed to the
European Regulation 910/2014 on e-Identification and Trust Services/e-authentication system (e-IDAS).
The e-IDAS Regulation influenced the outcome of the UNICTRAL Working Group IV forum. The norms
also influenced the Indonesian regulations on e-signature which was realized in the revision of Government
Regulation No. 82/2012 to become Government Regulation No. 71/2019 on Electronic System and
Electronic Transactions. Under this legal framework, Indonesian Notaries could be treated as the trusted
third-party which could facilitate the ease of doing business in Indonesia if the government provide them
with the authorization to access the public registry.

I. INTRODUCTION
It is a fact that conventional transactions that used to be paper based, today they have
changed into electronic form and use electronic systems. This development is well aligned
and captured by the UNCITRAL.3 UNCITRAL itself for a long time acknowledged as
organization that has been providing the States with recommendations on electronic
transaction, particularly to accommodate the need to establish a legal framework for
recognition of the legal value of electronic information and/or documents. In the past,
UNCITRAL issued the Model Law on E-Commerce (1996), and subsequently the Model
Law on E-Signatures (2001), which can be used by all countries as a reference in
developing their national legal systems to accommodate the dynamics of electronic
commerce and the regulation of electronic signatures. The international convention on e-
commerce was born to accommodate the need of transaction between business actors
(B2B), namely, the United Convention on the Use of Electronic Communication in

1
Paper prepared for The International Union of Notaries 29th Congress Roundtable Discussion,
Jakarta, 30 November 2019. I thank Ayu and Rizky Banyualam Permana for their assistance in
preparing earlier draft of this paper. Citation to this draft is restricted subject to the approval of the
author.
2
Researcher and lecturer in telematics law and notary and electronic transaction course at the Faculty
of Law, Universitas Indonesia. Currently the author is the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Universitas
Indonesia. Contact: edmon@ui.ac.id.
3
The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is an UN organ
established by the United Nations General Assembly by resolution 2205 (XXI). It has a main duty to
serve as international form for harmonization of international trade law, including on electronic
commerce. The issue of electronic commerce is handled by UNCITRAL Working Group IV.
International Contracts (UN-ECC, 2005).4 This convention has been ratified or accessed
some countries so that it can be said to be an only de facto binding international regulation
in cross-border electronic commerce.5
Furthermore, to enhance interoperability of electronic signature between countries,
UNCITRAL also conducted a study on “Promoting Confidence in E-Commerce.”6 In the
said document, UNCITRAL stated the importance of harmonization is to resolve the issue
of the authentication method globally in order to create a trust in electronic commerce.7
Electronic signature and authentication is fundamental component in ensuring smooth
operation of electronic commerce. Without the trusts of actors involved in electronic
commerce transaction, the legality of e-commerce transaction could outweigh the
convenience provided by e-commerce as a means of transaction.
In recent two decades, we could observe the increasing digitalization of the role of the
notary. As a one of the oldest legal profession, the role of notary public is not easily
eroded in the information era. The technology has developed to accommodate the need
to ensure the authentication of online documents. There are States that have implemented
the concept of ‘electronic notary’ or ‘cyber notary’ in their respective domestic legal
system to support the electronic transaction.
In electronic transaction, there is an increase in demand to ensure the trust and confidence
between the parties in transaction. This is particularly driven the fact that electronic
documents could be tampered with certain technique, rendering the transaction to be
risky. Thus, in order to address this issue, there is a need for the government to provide
favorable condition to guarantee the authenticity of electronic documents. Particularly in
the context of supporting the implementation of digital signatures. To enhance the
reliability of parties on the authenticity of electronic document, parties may rely to the
service provided by trusted third-party (T3P), the role which could be filled by the Public
Notary. Among the states globally, the United States and France are two countries that
represent two different legal traditions, but both have organized the concept of cyber
notary or e-notary in their national legal systems.
However, this development is not uniformly found in other jurisdictions. There are States
that are still in the early stage in implementing a similar concept, and much less developed
in terms of maturity legal frameworks of cyber notary and e-notary. Ironically including
in Indonesia, one of the major emerging economies in the world,8 even though with the
recent amendment of Electronic Information and Transaction Law9 and its implementing
regulation,10 as well as the inception of new Notarial Profession Law amendment,11 the

4
United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, New
York, 23 November 2005.
5
Even though the Convention was endorsed under the UN Conference, support from States are still
lacking, as there are only 18 signatories and only 12 parties among the 193 UN Members.
6
UNCITRAL, Promoting confi dence in electronic commerce: legal issues on international use of
electronic authentication and signature methods (Vienna: United Nations, 2009).
7
Barry Ciptra, “Electronic Time-Stamping: The Notary Public Goes Digital,” Science 261 (1993), 162-
3.
8
World Bank, “Indonesia: Overview,” https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/indonesia/overview
9
Indonesia, Law no. 11 of 2008 on Electronic Information and Transaction Law as amended with Law
no. 19 of 2019.
10
Indonesia, Government Regulation no. 71 of 2019
11
Indonesia, Law no. 30 of 2004 on Notary as amended with Law no. 2 of 2004.

2
government and legislative still persistent in opening up the possibility to have the legal
mechanism to allow cyber notary to operate.
In this paper author will examine the recent update on Indonesian law pertaining to Public
Notary as well as Electronic Information and Transaction Law and Regulations to look
forward the possibility of establishing cyber notary under new regulatory regime. I argue
in this paper that the existence of cyber notary or e-notary is crucial in the context of legal
reform to accommodate ease of doing business carried out by Indonesian government.
However, there is a regulatory hindrance to make cyber notary realized in Indonesia, this
is partly because of reluctance from the government and notarial professional
organization.
The organization of this paper will be divided as follow. In the following part, author will
revisit the concept of notary from the historical timeline to the current information
society. In the third part, I will carry out (re-)examination of Indonesian legal framework,
putting the emphasis on the question on to what extent the current regulatory framework
allows the existence of cyber notary. Finally, in the concluding section I will recollect
prior elaboration to strengthen my point on the need of cyber notary under Indonesian
legal context.

II. CYBER-NOTARY AND E-NOTARY REVISITED

The technological developments that happened will certainly have an impact on the
notary profession. But does this cause distortion of the notary profession? The answer is
that the notary profession may experience disruption if the work of Notaries is only
limited solely in issuing the notarial deed. However, the distortion can be avoided if we
return to the essence of the function and the role of the notary public as the mandate bearer
of public trust namely notary as trusted third party (T3P) who gives trust services that
prevent fraud and forgery in an electronic transaction.
History of notary as a legal profession spans from ancient ages. It is commonly
understood that the origin of the profession could be traced as far as two thousand years
ago. The development of the profession itself is consequently with the advancement of
civilization and the growth of codified law.12 Therefore, as one of the oldest legal
profession, the role of Notary did not simply diminish because of the introduction of new
technologies in society. With this regard, the profession of Notary also relevant in facing
the current context of Industry 4.013 and Society 5.0.14

12
James Cowie Brown, The Origin and Early History of the Office of Notary (Edinburgh: W. Green &
Son, 1936), pp. 3-5.
13
“This Fourth Industrial Revolution is, however, fundamentally different. It is characterized by a range
of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, impacting all
disciplines, economies and industries, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human.”
World Economic Forum, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab,”
https://www.weforum.org/about/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-by-klaus-schwab
14
Society 5.0 is defined as “human-centered society that balances economic advancement with the
resolution of social problems by a system that highly integrates cyberspace and physical space.” See,
Japan Cabinet Office, “Society 5.0,” https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/society5_0/index.html

3
The profession of Notary was already known during Roman era as scribae. Consequently,
the profession is seemingly attached to the civil law legal tradition which identically
ascribed by continental European states. Even some argued that the history of the legal
profession itself is old as ancient civilization itself, dating from the ages of Hammurabi.15
Latin Notary, notary under the civil law tradition is a legal profession that concerned with
the legal matters related to the authentication of document. Notary is a profession that has
with non-contentious nature, the notary themselves are responsible for the legal
transaction itself.16 Despite the origin of Notary profession that coming from ancient
Rome, this profession is not exclusively found in civil law jurisdiction only, as the
profession also practiced in England during 16th century.17
Unprecedented growth of electronic transaction facilitated by the mainstreaming of
Internet during 90s made various businesses to reap the benefit from Internet. Yet, the
Internet itself is not free from the various risk posed. Authenticity of the electronic
transmission became significantly more important as electronic transaction is getting
more vulnerable from risks associated with the nature of electronic transaction itself.
Electronic transmission can be target of the illegal activities, in the past there is a case of
document forgery by impostor who targeted the user of AOL e-mail.18 This was one of
the reason why the role of trusted third party (T3P) in creating the confidence in electronic
transaction is important. With this regard, in the context of electronic transaction notary
can take the role as the trusted third party because of their nature of profession.
There are two different terminologies that being used to describe the digitalization of
Notarial profession. Literature often refer it as ‘cyber notary’ and electronic notary (e-
notary). Although it seemed that they are similar and interchangeable, the root origin of
the terms is different. ‘E-notary’ was coined among the lawyers from the continental
Europe or civil law legal tradition, while cyber notary was popularized among the legal
experts in common law tradition. Smith19 highlighted that the term ‘electronic notary’
initially introduced by the French delegation in TEDIS20 forum which is a forum to
mainstream and develop the EDI21 for data exchange in Europe during 1990s. Conference
held by the European Community in 1989 in Brussels. One of the results of this forum is
that the need for a body that could act as ‘electronic notary’ to provide independent record
of electronic transactions between the parties of an electronic transaction.

15
Leslie G. Smith, “The of the Notary Public,” p. 9.
16
Noel Cox, "The Notary Public - the third arm of the legal profession," New Zealand Business Law
Quarterly 6 (2000), 321-335.
17
Ibid.
18
John C. Anderson & Michael L. Closen, “Document Authentication in Electronic Commerce: The
Misleading Notary Public Analog for the Digital Signature Certification Authority,” Journal of
Computer & Information Law 17, no.3 (1999), 833-872.
19
Leslie G. Smith., “The Role of the Notary in Secure Electronic Commerce,” Information Security
Institute Faculty of Information Technology, Queensland University of Technology, September
2006, p.1.
20
TEDIS is an abbreviation of Trade Electronic Data Interchange System. TEDIS is a project for data
exchange initiated by the union of countries in Europe.
21
EDI stands for Electronic Data Interchange. EDI is a process that allows one company to send
information to other companies electronically and not by paper.

4
Meanwhile, Mason argued that the term ‘cyber notary’ was originally an idea of the
American Bar Association Information Security Committee (1994).24 The ABA
committee proposed the notion of cyber notary which is based the need for the electronic
transaction, (i) trust when transacting between parties over the internet; (ii) the security
of the transmission; (iii) the integrity of the content of the communication; and the
confidence that such a transaction will receive legal recognition, so that a binding contract
is enforceable. Leff further stated that what ABA conception of ‘cyber notary’ was about
a party who had the ability to specialize in the field of law and computers. The function
is perceived similarly as Latin notary in facilitating an international transaction. A cyber
notary would bind between private key of sender of the transaction with the public key of
intended recipient. Not only create a binding of keys in the transaction, a cyber notary
they would also enclose the transaction in what Leff described as the ‘umbrella of trust.’
Even more, a cyber notary also expected to take a role in verification of legal capacity of
each party in a transaction and their financial responsibility. Therefore, in ABA forum it
was proposed that the minimum qualification of should be equivalent of an attorney.25
In certain jurisdiction, there are already legal framework that allows cyber notary or e-
notary taking active roles in electronic transactions. Such as in Scotland, Scottish cyber
notary has the role to verify the identity of the parties to electronic commerce. It also has
the role to (a) validate the legal content; (b) validate digital signatures; (c) validate the
identity of the signer; (d) validate the signing capacity; (e) validate the signatory
authority; and (f) Includes digital certificate validation.26
The duty of cyber notary or e-notary could be simply as producing notarial document in
electronic form or utilizing electronic and digital technology in producing such notarial
document. This has been already allowed and acknowledged in various jurisdictions. For
instance in the United Kingdom, the UK Legal Services act 2007 and Notaries Practice
Rules 2009 clearly stated that a “notarial act” meant “any act that has validity by virtue
only of its preparation, performance, authentication, attestation or verification by a
notary, and includes any such at carried out by electronic means” (emphasis added).
In civil law jurisdiction, such as Dutch Notary Act further refer to order of notarial council
regarding the rules on the production of electronic extracts from notarial act.27 These two
examples demonstrate how a Notary could perform their function in the digitalized
environment.
Other than performing ‘digitalized’ version of traditional notarial work in facilitating
electronic transaction. The work of cyber notary or e-notary could be broader than the
scope of work of traditional notary. For instance, in the Netherlands a Notary could be
assigned as trusted third party in the context of escrow. In ICT transaction, this escrow
developed into the source code escrow or depository. In other, jurisdictions there are also
role as registration authority (RA) for legalization or verification of conventional identity

24
Stephen Mason, Electronic Signatures in Law (Tottel, 2007).
25
Laurence Leff, eds. Notaries and Electronic Notarization (OASIS Open, 2000).
26
Ibid.
27
Dutch Notary Act, Section 53 paragraph 2. “Rules concerning the manner in which electronic copies
of and electronic extracts from notarial acts are produced may be adopted by or pursuant to order in
council.”

5
document before the document assigned an e-certificate from CSP as well as act as a Trust
Services provider under the European Union e-IDAS framework. 28

III. THE NOTARY AS THE TRUSTED THIRD PARTY IN INDONESIA

The Notarial profession in Indonesia is derivatives from the concept of Latin Notary as
commonly accepted in countries with civil law tradition. A Notary is a public official who
has the authority to mainly to issue authentic deed. In addition, in the recent amendment
of the Indonesian Notary Law,30 a Notary could also perform the authority to authenticate
the signature as well as to affix the time stamp and register unofficial documents. A
Notary also has an indispensable role in establishment of legal entity and transaction of
land. Other than these documentary roles, a Notary also could be the intermediary or
witness of legal act of transaction. Thus, based on the its function, naturally a Notary is
indeed a trusted third party who are granted special authority from the law.
In ensuring the legality of transaction in Indonesia, including the transactions that
involves and transferred through electronic means, a notary has important functions and
roles. With the nature of transaction that increasingly become digitalized, it is deemed
necessary that the works of Notary also need to be adjusted with in line with the
modernization of transaction. To accommodate the need of transaction facilitated by
Notary, the use of technology becoming more and more integrated in day to day
transaction of a Notary. These transactions could be between Notary to government
(N2G), Notary to business, Notary to client (N2C) as well as Notary to Notary (N2N).
Recently as the efforts to increase the easiness of doing business in Indonesia, the
government introduced various electronic licensing procedure and mechanism with
regard to investment. These N2G transaction are, among others, Sistem Administrasi
Badan Hukum (Legal Entity Administration System), Online Single Submission (OSS)
of Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board, Aplikasi Legalisasi Elektronik (Alegron).
Moreover, it is common to use electronic communication platform such as e-mail,
WhatsApp and cloud to facilitate N2B, N2C, and N2N transaction.
Despite common use of ICT in supporting transactions secured by Notary. Until present,
there is no per se provision that allows the work of cyber notary or e-notary under the
Indonesian legal framework, even with the recent amendment of Notary Law. This is
questionable, as Indonesia is doing major legal reform to ensure business competitiveness
and ease of doing business. The benefit of using electronic system and ICT to smoothens
business transaction is undeniable, yet no clear-cut regulation or provision on cyber
notary or e-notary.
The concept of cyber notary arguably already implemented in recent amendment of
Notary law. However, the drafting of the provision was in exceptional form and in a
narrow sense of electronic/cyber notary. Cyber notary only included in the elucidation of
art. 15(3) of Notary Law, under the explanation of phrase ‘other authority regulated by
the statutory regulation.’ In is stated that, what is meant by ‘other authority stated by
28
eIDAS (Electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services) is an EU regulation on electronic
identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European Single Market. It was
established in EU Regulation 910/2014 of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and repeals
directive 1999/93/EC from 13 December 1999.
30
Indonesia, Notary Law (Undang-undangn Jabatan Notaris)

6
statutory regulations’ including authority to certify transaction exercised electronically
(cyber notary). Despite the narrow concept adopted by Indonesian legislation update, it
is still a fresh air for the future development of cyber notary in Indonesia. Provision of
art. 15(3) would be the complementary system to the prevailing laws and regulations on
electronic transaction.
With regard to the law on electronic transaction, Indonesia has already law on Information
and Electronic Transactions in place since 2008, often referred as Law No. 11/2008,
which was then partially amended by Law Number 19 of 2016. Under current law, anyone
can utilize electronic signature which supported by an electronic certification service
provider (CSP) by their electronic certificate. Basically, it is an electronic signature along
with its electronic certification system is held to clarify the identity of legal subjects and
protect the security and authenticity of electronic information that is communicated
through the electronic system. The existence of an electronic signature is the a verification
and authentication method following the accountability or reliability of the electronic
system according to the scope of its intended use. Reading this provision, by putting
emphasis on the wording of ‘verification’ and ‘authentication’ and in parallel with Notary
law. There are limited similarities of duty between the notary and electronic certification
service provider. Thus, the provision under could be expanded in the future to
accommodate greater role of Notary as a cyber/electronic notary in the future.
However, the opportunity to establish a cyber notary institution under the current legal
framework still facing hindrance. On the other hand, there is a strong counter argument
stating that the elucidation of art. 15(3) should be perceived and allowed only based on
the physical presence of the notary in a transaction. This interpretation is based on the
elucidation of the art. 16 letter (m) of Notary Law which mandated that the Notary must
be physically present and sign the Deed before the parties and witnesses. Yet, I disagree
with this interpretation approach. Art. 16 letter (m) should be contextually perceived as
the obligation the Notary of their duties in reading the deeds before the parties.
Moreover, in a general perception, the electronic communication should be deemed as
‘physical connection’, because the technology that enables electronic communication is
indeed a product of physical science. Without the existence of physical infrastructure
that allows electronic communication, there will be no meeting of minds and exchange
of transaction occur.
From the above-mentioned elaboration, the difference understanding of those
elucidations creates such a barrier to implementing the institution of cyber notary in
Indonesia. In addition, there is a fallacy misunderstanding that the cyber notary would
disrupt the existing conventional business models of the notary services. If we based
the argument against cyber notary under this (false) assumption, the Notarial profession
will run in the circles with minimal development. In fact, the authority of and service
provided by Notary under the concept of cyber notary could be broader than traditional
sense of Notary.
Qualifications and criteria as a notary are based on high ethics and the level of trust is
honest under the applicable law. In contrast to lawyers (attorneys), notaries are considered
to have a role and act in neutral position because they do not act in the interests of the
client but acting on behalf the law that should apply and accommodate the wishes of the
parties to be included in the deed. Therefore, for each activity and its act, the notary can

7
be said to be fully responsible so that the quality of the document is categorized as an
authentic deed and has an executorial power.
While the functions and roles are like those of a notary, in the context of electronic
transactions similar role of Notary are technically carried out by the electronic Certificate
providers (CA/CSP). This institution carries the public's mandate (trust) for the existence
of valid identity information of the information’s conveyor. Unfortunately this notion is
still in theoretical perspective and technical performance only, therefore, legally the role
of a notary is needed to support its role so that the information conveyed by the CA/CSP
can be said to be as appropriate as an authentic deed, particularly if there is no denial from
the parties concerned in the transaction. Moreover, documents are digitally signed would
make them secured, in sense of preservation of confidentiality, integrity, availability,
authenticity, authorization, non-repudiation. The documents that are digitally signed is
certainly have strong probative value before the court.
Basically, in observing the position of electronic information cannot be separated from
the characteristics of the electronic system that process the information. The existence of
electronic system must be based on reliable and secure system. The location and
characteristics of the storage media are also determinant of its reliability, that is where
the electronic information is stored in a secondary media (e.g. computer stored data),
offline, or electronic information received from an electronic communication system (e.g.
communication data messages). The first variant has the criteria of wholeness,
authorization, and authenticity, while the second variant is added with the criteria of
confidentiality, integrity, authenticity and non-repudiation. The above understanding will
show that there is actually a range or spectrum in determining the probative value of the
evidence of the electronic information, from the weakest to the strongest. These are
factors that influence the probative value of a document before the court.
Related to the provisions and operation of trusted third parties, especially for Notaries
involved in electronic transactions, there are some guidelines that can be followed by
notaries, among others:
(a) Notary Public Services are high level services that make use of a number of basic
services such as time stamping, certification, directory service, digital archiving
and non-repudiation. In principle a document will be given to the TTP and the
TTP attest or certificates this document by use of digital signatures or some other
means. Part of this service may be directory service, where the information, such
a formerly certified documents, may be retrieved from a database or directory
(b) A notary public service may attest and certify certain classes of documents, e.g.
that document existed at a certain point in time, in order to give it credibility and
authenticity. Such a service may be used for mediation of a dispute between
entities and may be authorized by some authority.
(c) There are many complex issues in the areas of evidence, notary authority and
liability. The issues vary in different jurisdictions, so formal legal advice or review
is suggested in these areas.
If the notion of cyber or electronic notary can be fully implemented in Indonesia in the
future, then the electronic transaction and documents that have low probative value could
be strengthened. Because these transactions and documents could benefit from the
presence of cyber/electronic notary because the documents and transactions supervised

8
by cyber/electronic notary are deemed equal as authentic deed. Thus, this will increase
the public trust and security in electronic transactions.
Although the opportunities for notaries to take a role in electronic transaction appear to
be very limited in the recent amendment of law, there are other laws that provide more
opportunity for cyber notary. for example, a Government Regulation as the implementing
regulation of Law 11/2008 provides an opportunity for a Notary to provide electronic
certification support services. In namely Government Regulation No. 82 of 2012
concerning the Implementation of Electronic Transactions and Systems which was then
revoked by Government Regulation Number 71 of 2019 concerning the Implementation
of Electronic Transactions and Systems (“PP PSTE”). In art. 57, there are some legal
provisions that allows delivering of the Trust Services by using e-certificates. These e-
certificates recognized under the regulations are, e-signature, e-seal, e-time-stamping, e-
registered delivery services, and web-site authentication. Technically, these services
could be supported by Notary in their business activities, but unfortunately the specific
regulation does not mention the role and function of Notary. The provision of art. 57 PP
PTSE should be very relevant to the provisions of Article 15 (2) point (a) and paragraph
(3) of the Notary Law.
Another opportunity for Notaries in Indonesia to perform as cyber notaries is their
authority to legalize documents issued electronically under the Government
Administration Law. According to Law Number 3 of 2014 concerning Government
Administration, Article 1 number (11) states that electronic decisions are decisions made
or submitted using or utilizing electronic media. In the elucidation of art. 73, specifically
paragraph (2), generally, what is meant as a document is any documented information in
written form or electronic form which is controlled by a Government Agency and/or
Officer relating to government administration and/or public service activities. The
authority of the Notary to ratify the document is carried out in accordance with the
provisions of the legislation. Thus, the provision could be used as a basis for cyber notary
development.
In Indonesian context, notarial deeds could be classified as the state’s archive. It means
that even the documents are kept at the notary office, but the documents should be
maintained and complied to the principles of the Law on Archives.31 Under the Archive
Law, it is clearly stated that the state archives should be authentic and trusted in order to
have the probative value before the court. Thus, in this sense, maintenance of digital copy
of the notarial deed should follow the principles on electronic archive maintenance. This
is also an inherent work of cyber notary in Indonesian context. The detailed provision on
this matter is derived on the National Archives regulations on the authenticity and trusted
guideline. In the future, it would be possible, for Notary to have legitimate interest for
pooling/collecting the first original copy of state archive produced by Notary for the
authorized agency. In this sense, Notary could assist authorized agency in archive in
maintaining the availability, preserving, and acquisition of the state archive. Therefore,
the proposal for having The Public Document Repository policy might be the answered
of those needs.
In addition, with the introduction of cyber notary under Indonesian legal framework,
several legal issues related to conventional notary work would be solved. They are not

31
Indonesia, Law no.43 of 2009 on Archives

9
only related to a better filing system based on electronic filling but also a more efficient
recording system and service delivery standards. This increased efficiency in document
maintenance would increase the scope of transaction opportunities globally.
Electronification and digitalization of Notary’s work also provide the opportunity for
Notary to collaborate with the relevant government agencies, such as the Ministry of Law
and Human Rights. In order to ensure business environment in the context of legal reform
under ease of doing business agenda, the Notaries should be facilitated and enriched with
the electronic system and infrastructures to support the examination of document’s
authenticity and the fulfillment of legality of transaction. This electronic system could
take in the form of search engine system for legal subject information system, company
registration system, land certificate checking and registration system, electronic copy
reporting/submission system, and other forms that may deemed necessary to support the
business environment.

IV. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

From stamps in ancient times to digital signature in information age, the profession of
Notary indeed has developed, matured and expanded. Although various professions are
experienced disruption from ICT development. The Notarial profession could reap the
benefit from the opportunities created by ICT development. The Notary as the profession
is indeed one of the most resilient profession that ever needed in along with the
development of civilization. It is a false assumption that Notaries will be disrupted by
new technology, in fact there will be more opportunities and roles of Notaries to be taken
in the context of Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0.
Ideally, the concept of cyber notary or e-notary can be fully implemented in Indonesia.
Consequently, the basic principles of information security and/or secured communication
in order to have secure e-transaction could be facilitated or supported by the Notary as
the trusted third party in e-IDAS framework. The probative value of electronic
information and electronic transactions have been perceived often have a weak
evidentiary value. With the greater involvement of Notary as cyber notary, these
electronic documents become stronger because it can be perceived as equal as the
authentic deed if the transaction is supported by Notaries. This will increase public trust
and security in electronic transactions as a form of preparedness for the challenges that
existed in the era of the industrial revolution 4.0 and society 5.0. The implementation of
electronic identity and trust services supported by Notary can potentially reduce the fraud
and forgery in the electronic transaction.
There is also the opportunity of integration of deed repository held by with public
document repository system maintained by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. The
notary will be also facilitated and enriched with electronic system facilities that support
the examination of legal conditions of authenticity, both objective and subjective
conditions. These system and infrastructures could include, a search system about the
validity of legal subject information, a company registration system, a land certificate
checking and registration system, an electronic copy reporting/submission system, and so
forth.

10
Through this electronic system several legal issues related to conventional notary work
would have been resolved. It is not only related to the existence of a better filing system
due to electronic filling but also a more efficient recording system and service delivery
standards and increasingly global scope of transaction opportunities.
In addition, in order to create the economic confidence, it is certainly need such a legal
confidence, so that the existence of cyber notary as trusted third party is deemd necessary
to support the e-transaction system. Cyber notary could help the transaction against the
identity fraud and forgery of the authentic documents, or falsification of documents, as
well as accessing general registration/public registry. Cyber notary also could serve as a
mechanism to simplify the procedures for having any licensing of doing business under
the ease of doing business agenda. Under the existing Indonesian Online Single
Submission system for investment licensing handling, it would be more effective if the
Notary could be optimized as the frontline of the system.
However, despite the benefit to the society, the preparations for facing the Industrial 4.0
and Society 5.0 revolutions, we also not to abandon the alertness against the mandate of
the constitution to safeguard state sovereignty, protect, educate and prosper the nation.
Therefore, the Notary as a Public Official, if performs the duty as cyber notary, who have
better ICT knowledge could play the role as trusted third parties in the digital economy,
they are necessary to ensure for legal security and national economy in context of
digitalization.

Bibliography
Edmon Makarim (1) 2011. Modernisasi Hukum Notaris Masa Depan: Kajian Hukum
Terhadap Kemungkinan Cybernotary di Indonesia, Jurnal Hukum dan Pembangunan,
Vol. 21. No. 3.
Edmon Makarim (2), 2015. Keautentikan Dokumen Publik Elektronik Dalam
Administrasi Pemerintahan dan Pelayanan Publik, Jurnal Hukum Pembangunan,
Vol. 45, No. 2.
Edmon Makarim (3), 2015. Interoperabilitas Identitas Digital dalam Transaksi Elektronik
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Elektronik Menjelang Asean Community 2015, Jurnal Hukum dan Pembangunan
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Leslie G. Smith., The Role of the Notary in Secure Electronic Commerce, Information
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Government Regulation Number 71 of 2019 concerning the Implementation of Electronic
Transactions and Systems.

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United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, Model Law on Electronic
Commerce (UNCITRAL).

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