Notary services are decentralized with one notarial office at each district, Ministry of Justice and at Rwanda Development Board (RDB/Business).

The public notary exercises the following powers in discharging duties:

  Authenticating documents by their signing;

  Legalizing signatures found on documents;

  Issuing copies of his own affidavits;

  Drafting contracts;

  Executing court orders when so required by law;

  Advising/counseling customers on his own services.

However for deeds to be used abroad, signatures from districts notaries shall be legalized by the National Notarial Office’s notaries. Deeds drafted by notaries from districts and by the Notary in the Government department in charge of Investment Promotion are valid all over the whole country.

More details can be found in the Presidential Order N° 29/01 of 05/07/2005 in Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda n° 15 of 1er August 2005

For all information, you can also consult www.amategeko.net This web site was conceived to put on line all information concerning Rwandan justice, its evolution and its execution.