Notarization on blockchain: an inviolable digital imprint.

Introduction.

Historically, notarization of a document is a procedure carried out by a designated figure (the notary), who guarantees the authenticity of an agreement reached between two or more parties.

Through a notarial act, the notary ensures the validity of an agreement, ensuring that the agreements reached derive from an actual consensus between the parties.

Among the uses of blockchain or distributed ledgers, whose primary differences are discussed in the next paragraph, the validation (notarization) process takes on a different meaning.

At the core is the possibility of recording any type of information on a distributed ledger.

Distributed ledgers allow any digitizable information to be recorded.

The inserted information cannot be modified and, depending on the case, can be consulted by anyone.

Blockchain and Distributed Ledgers.

There are some differences between blockchain and distributed ledgers. However, in informational texts, the two terms are often used synonymously.

Blockchain is a technology that was born later than distributed ledgers, although the former, thanks to the Bitcoin phenomenon, is generally better known.

The main characteristic of blockchain is that it is decentralized, in other words, there is no single operator behind the exchange of information. In addition, a series of blocks linked together and known as hashes form the basis of blockchain functioning.

On the contrary, distributed ledgers may not be structured into blocks (hashes) as they may not be decentralized.

However, both technologies generate as proof of exchange a unique and immutable code. This is the basis of notarization on blockchain.

How Notarization on Blockchain Works.

The distributed ledger technology introduced in Italian law D.L. 135/2018 (https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2018/12/14/18G00163/sg), converted into law on February 11, 2019, has legal value today.

The possibility of inserting immutable data into a digital ledger is leading to the birth of numerous projects in various sectors: from real estate to agri-food.

Distributed ledgers (Distributed Ledger) that, for simplicity, can be thought of as a set of encrypted, non-duplicable, and unmodifiable data, have legal validity thanks to this law.

Recording any digital document in a distributed ledger allows you to have an unmodifiable and non-counterfeitable file registered on a platform that guarantees the authenticity of the document.

Notarization, in practice, uses a distributed ledger to certify the immutability and non-modifiability over time of information, but not all the information entered may be true.

The technology allows, in fact, only to record information in the form of a string of numbers and letters that identifies the document.

For these reasons, recording information on one or more distributed ledgers, it is important to specify, does not equate to certifying the truthfulness of the same.

It is therefore a matter of notarization and not certification, and it is an act that delegates to technology the only things it guarantees:

• the presence of the information;
• immutability over time.

To summarize and integrate: thanks to the approval of the law of February 11, 2019, the information deposited using technologies based on distributed ledgers has legal value. In addition, the validity of the information is recognized among all EU member states.

Notarization on blockchain and traceability.

Among the uses of blockchain or distributed ledgers, notarization is mainly used for traceability.

Many Italian food and non-food producers can thus have an additional tool to guarantee the respect of production processes.

For example, in the agri-food sector, there are several cases where the entire production chain is recorded on the blockchain. Consumers, for example, through QR codes, can access a series of information:

• origin of the raw material;
• suppliers;
• quality controls carried out;
• awards or recognitions obtained by the product;
• information about the company.

Technically, any digitizable information can be recorded.

It is the task of professionals in the sector to propose, depending on the type of information and the asset, which of the numerous distributed ledgers to choose to record the information.

In general, aspects such as:

• the figures that can access the register;
• the type of encryption;
• the structure of the network;
• the type of consensus are established.

In general, in notarization processes, it is customary to opt for a register that can be consulted by anyone but modified only by those who have access.

Given the known episodes of counterfeiting of Made in Italy products, notarization on blockchain is an additional tool to distinguish oneself.

Notarization on blockchain: advantages.

Virtuous organizations can use notarization, thus making available to consumers a system that shows the quality of their products and meets today’s needs: ensuring a sustainable, traceable, energy-efficient, and controlled product at every stage.

For example, if we think of the breeding sector, it is possible to notarize information relating to animals, showing how they spend their days, what they eat, how the slaughtering processes take place, and in general the entire process that ends with the arrival of meat at the points of sale.

In conclusion, notarization on a distributed ledger is a tool that increases the value of the brand, allowing consumers, as well as anyone else, to access any type of information they want to include.

Notarization aims to provide greater transparency to consumers, who, for example, in the case of food products, can have much more information than is required to be communicated on the label.