XXXII General Assembly

The XXXII ELRA General Assembly was held on the 24th November in a hybrid format, in the Salão Nobre of the Regional Legislative Assembly, bringing together representatives from 29 registry organisations from 25 European countries.

Two new members was welcomed: Hungary as a full member through the General Department of Registry and Cartography and Ukraine as an observer member through the State Services for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre. The approach to the latter country is the result of closer collaboration since the beginning of the conflict, in line with the support of the European Union and in view of the essential identification of properties to protect the rights of those who have been forced to relocate, as well as for the purposes of the country’s future legal reconstruction.

ELRA’s new board was also elected at the General Assembly, with the representative of the Romanian Registry Association, Mihai Taus, taking over as President for the next two years.

The main topic for debate was the future and new functions of the Registries in Europe, which will cover realities as diverse as the protection of registry information in the Netherlands, digitalisation in Spain, the situation in Austria, the new Cadastre law in Portugal and the role of the Registries in Turkey following the earthquake in February this year. All moderated by Prof Dr Rafael Vale e Reis from the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra.

The morning finished with a presentation of the remote acts platform in Portugal by Registrars Fátima Pestana Ferreira and Maria Luis Marinho.

In the afternoon, the role of artificial intelligence in registries will be debated as a result of data collection from ELRA member countries led by Poland, with the participation of a representative from the European Union and a member of the Colegio de Registradores de España.

The agenda was rounded off with a presentation by Enrique Maside, Head of European affairs at Colegio de Registradores de España, on the new European proposal to combat money laundering and its impact on registry activity.

• Presentation of the Ukrainian registry system by Maryna Zozul, StateGeoCadastre
• New directions & functions in the European registers
  • The publicity principle: public, pressure & politics by Jacques Vos, Kadaster
  • General landmarks on land registration in Austria by Manfred Buric, Ministry of Justice
  • The impact of natural disasters: Earthquakes in Turkey by Emre Ergin Ergani, LR expert
• Electronic signatures on digital legal acts by Fatima Pestana Ribeiro and a second presentation by Maria Luis Marinho, ELRN Contact Points from ASCR (Portugal)
• Artificial Intelligence developments: issues related to immobile transactions.
  • Land Registry aspects by Dr Marta Rekawek – Pachwicewicz, Judge / Coordinator for International Cooperation on Civil Law and Human Rights at Bialystok Regional Court, Poland