Seminar on “State inspections and preventing money laundering in notary services” with the German Federal Chamber of Notaries
- Details
- Published: March 26, 2021

Following the success of an event organised between the Albanian Chamber of Notaries and the German Federal Chamber of Notaries (BNotK) in December 2020, IRZ is now developing this cooperation further. An online seminar on “State inspections and preventing money laundering in notary services” was organised on 12 March 2021 by IRZ together with the German and Albanian chambers of notaries and the EU EURALIUS project. This was the first event in a series of seminars on notarial topics. The seminar was financed by the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) and was aimed at 25 or so Albanian notaries.
Alongside the EURALIUS V team leader, Dr. Agnes Bernhard, Fatmir Laçej, Vice-President of the Albanian Chamber of Notaries, Richard Bock, Head of International Affairs at the BNotK (German Federal Chamber of Notaries) and Viktoria Hoebel from IRZ welcomed the participants to the event.
The seminar dealt with the following subjects:
- Preventing money laundering in notarial services according to the 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive
- Preventing money laundering in notarial practice
- Inspections in Albanian notarial services
The speakers at the seminar were Martin Thelen, a notary candidate and director at the BNotK, and Dr. Lovro Tomasic, international affairs representative at the BNotK.
Martin Thelen gave a lecture on the first topic and presented in detail the legal framework in place in Germany for the prevention of money laundering. He looked at the money laundering law, presenting risk management, due diligence and reporting obligations in more detail. The next two topics were discussed by Dr. Lovro Tomasic. Using eight case examples, he explained the theoretical and practical aspects of the money laundering law and pointed out the red flags to look out for. He went on to provide an insight into official inspections. With the help of a check-list he had produced, Dr. Tomasic explained the details of an official inspection and looked more closely at the role of certified notaries.
The law on money laundering in Albania is modelled on EU standards. However, no official inspection process has yet been established in Albania, although several inspections did take place over the past year. All the participants in the seminar welcomed the idea of a standardised inspection process and their active involvement in the process.
Discussions were remarkably animated, underlining the participants’ high level of interest in the subject.