As of December 29th, 2021, unattested powers of attorney issued in writing can be revoked more easily and with greater legal certainty in Russia. This is provided for by new regulations in the Russian Civil Code and the Law on the Notary's Office (Law No. 267-FZ of July 01, 2021 and Law No. 402-FZ of December 06, 2021).
The Notary Chamber of the Russian Federation has been keeping a special register on revocations of powers of attorney since December 29, 2021 (https://reestr-dover.ru/revocations). This applies to powers of attorney issued in simple form, i.e., without notarization (unattested).
For notarized powers of attorney, there still is a separate register where their validity can be verified online (https://reestr-dover.ru). Access to both registers is free and open to all interested parties.
Unattested powers of attorney can now be revoked online by submitting an application on the website of the Notary Chamber (https://lk.notariat.ru/). For this, however, the applicant must have access to “Gosuslugi” (www.gosuslugi.ru; government services) and an authorized (qualified) electronic signature.
In addition, it is still possible to revoke simple powers of attorney at the notary's office.
The new “revocation register” is a significant improvement, especially for companies, because the revocation becomes effective on the day after the entry of the revocation in the register and can also be held against third parties who were not aware of the revocation. Alternatively, revocations could previously be made by publication in official gazettes or newspapers (such as the newspaper “Kommersant”) with effect on third parties.
However, in this case, the revocation does not take effect in regard to third parties until one month after the respective material is published, which means that there are greater opportunities for abuse. The introduction of the revocation register for unattested powers of attorney is therefore to be welcomed and represents an improvement for companies.