Transparency study on the legal duality of notaries public in Mexico

Abstract

This research addresses the legal complexity of notaries public in Mexico as indirectly obligated subjects in matters of transparency and access to information. Although they are private individuals, they perform public functions, which creates a duality that makes it difficult to interpret their responsibilities under Article 6 of the Constitution and the criteria issued by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. To analyze this situation, 64 information requests were submitted in the country's 32 states. The results show a marked disparity in the recognition of notaries public as obligated subjects: only 19.35% of Government Secretariats and 10% of State Guarantor Bodies recognized them as such, while 29.03% of Secretariats and 80% of Guarantor Bodies did not. The study concludes by highlighting the need to harmonize notarial functions with respect for privacy and access to information. Furthermore, it raises as a future line of research the role that the local guarantor authority will play in the event of the disappearance of the INAI, that is, how state comptroller's offices will assume this task without backtracking on the guarantee of these fundamental rights.