Notarial instruments, apostilles and translations for courts

The Ticinese notary

Ticino belongs to the Latin notarial tradition, which it shares with Italy and with the French-speaking cantons. The notary is a public officer who drafts and authenticates public deeds (atti pubblici), keeps the originals and issues certified copies. Swiss federal law prescribes the public deed for many acts, among them the sale of land (Art. 216(1) CO), the foundation of an SA or a Sagl, amendments of articles of association, contracts of succession and public wills. The cantons regulate the procedure and the profession.¹ In Ticino the notariate is a liberal profession exercised by lawyers who have passed a separate notarial examination, so that most notaries practise as avvocato e notaio. A Commissione per il notariato sits at the Tribunale d'appello and supervises admission and discipline.² For the Italian client this structure is familiar. The Ticinese notary, like the Italian one, reads the deed to the parties, checks their identity and capacity and bears responsibility for the legality of the act.

The similarity can mislead. The Italian notary is a member of a closed profession with a fixed number of posts assigned by competition, organized in district councils and a national council. His deed has the strong evidentiary value of an atto pubblico under Art. 2699 ff. c.c. The Ticinese notary practises within a cantonal system whose rules differ from those of other cantons and whose deeds are recognized throughout Switzerland under federal law. Electronic public deeds and electronic certifications have been possible in Switzerland for several years. The Commercial Register Ordinance refers to the federal ordinance on electronic public deeds for their form.³ Italy, too, has introduced the electronic notarial deed. Because the two systems are not linked, an electronic deed of one country must still be converted into a form that the other accepts.

Italian notarial acts in Swiss registers

A notarial act drawn up in Italy may be needed in Ticino for several purposes: to prove the authority of a representative of an Italian company, to transfer shares in a Swiss company, to record a resolution of an Italian shareholder or to establish a power of attorney for a land transaction. The Commercial Register Ordinance governs public deeds and certifications made abroad. Under Art. 25(1) CRO they must bear a certification of the competent foreign authority and, unless a treaty provides otherwise, the legalization of the foreign government and of the Swiss diplomatic or consular representation. Where federal law requires a public deed, the register office may, under Art. 25(2) CRO, demand proof that the foreign procedure is equivalent to the Swiss one, if necessary through an expert opinion.⁴ Between Italy and Switzerland the treaty that replaces the chain of legalization is the Hague Apostille Convention.

The question of equivalence matters especially for acts that Swiss law reserves to the public deed, such as the founding of a company or the amendment of its articles. Swiss practice accepts foreign deeds in some cases and refuses them in others, and register offices have discretion. The notarial deed of an Italian notary is generally regarded as comparable to a Swiss public deed, because the Italian notary belongs to the same Latin tradition, but the deed must also satisfy the substantive requirements of Swiss law, such as the content of the articles and the statements required for the founding. In practice, Lugano lawyers usually have Swiss corporate acts executed before a Ticinese notary, if necessary through a representative holding a notarized and apostilled power of attorney issued in Italy. For land in Ticino the land register will in any case require a deed that complies with Swiss law, drawn up by a notary competent at the place of the land under the cantonal rules.⁵

Notes

1. CO, Art. 216(1), Italian text at https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-it/2/22/220-216-230.html; KMU-Portal, Confronto delle forme giuridiche (above) (public deed for the founding of an SA and a Sagl). CC, Art. 55 of the final title (cantonal competence for public deeds). ↩
2. Canton of Ticino, "Tribunale d'appello" (above): "Presso il Tribunale di appello hanno sede la Commissione per l'avvocatura, la Commissione per il notariato e la Commissione ticinese per la formazione dei giuristi." The requirement that Ticinese notaries be admitted lawyers follows from the cantonal Legge sul notariato. ↩
3. CRO, Art. 20(3) (above), referring to the ordinance on electronic public deeds and electronic certifications (OAPuE). Codice civile, Art. 2699–2700 (atto pubblico and its evidentiary value); on the organization of the Italian notariate, Legge 16 febbraio 1913, n. 89. ↩
4. CRO, Art. 25(1)–(2) (above). ↩
5. On the acceptance of foreign public deeds by Swiss register offices and the principle that land transactions require a deed by a notary competent at the place of the land, see the commentaries on Art. 55 final title CC and Art. 25 CRO. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.