MOSCOW, March 13 - RAPSI. Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has proposed to revive the state notary public system, states its letter to the Justice Ministry which has been published on the FAS website.

The regulator proposes to set economically justified prices for notary operations and routine technical activities, to oblige notaries to improve their skills, to stipulate higher professional eligibility criteria and to secure the notaries' final transition to electronic document management.

The FAS suggests approving professional tax deductions for notaries to make up for their income shortfall due to the provision of discount services to benefit recipients. The regulator believes that this should help prevent an unjustified increase of prices for other clients.

It also believes that the state should have the power to monitor notaries and to file lawsuits to request penalties for notaries and to strip them of their privileged status.

The regulator believes that the notary corps must not be allowed to determine the professional merits of its members, which should be assessed based on demanding and anonymous tests and an analysis of the notaries' professional and business reputation.

The operation of Russian notaries is currently regulated by the basic laws on the notary public service adopted in February 1993. According to the Federal Notary Chamber, there are 7,604 private notary firms in Russia.