《中华人民共和国公证暂行条例》(以下简称“条例”)第23条规定“公证人员对本公证处所办理的公证事务,应当保守秘密。”这一规定在传统公证理论上称为“保密原则”。保密原则要求公证人员对所办理的公证事务毫无例外地保守秘密,但条例实施以来的公证实践证明,绝大部分公证事务是不需要保密的,当事人也不要求保密。随着公证为改革服务的深化,公证机关对不需保密的公证事务应实行公开证明。本文就公开证明问题作一些探讨。一、公开证明的概念和意义公开证明与不公开证明是相对而言的。不公开是指对利害关系人不公开,对群众不公开,对社会不公开。公开证明就是将知晓公证法律事实——包括经公证的法律事实和公证机关的证明行为本身——扩大到当事人以外的一定范围。公开证明的基本内容是:除法律另有规定外,公证机关证明法律事实或确认法律关系应当对社会公开,对群众公开。即公证机关 Article 23 of the Provisional Regulations of the People’s Republic of China Notary (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulations”) stipulates that “a notary public shall keep a secret to notarial affairs handled by this notary office.” This rule is called traditional “Confidentiality Principle ”. The principle of confidentiality requires that notary public keep secrets to the notarized affairs handled without exception, but the notarial practice since the implementation of the Regulations proves that the vast majority of notary public affairs do not need to be kept confidential and the parties do not require confidentiality. As the notarization deepens for the reform of services, the notarial office shall make public the public notarization of notarized affairs. This article makes some discussions on the issue of public proof. First, the concept and meaning of public proof Public certification and non-public proof is relative terms. Non-disclosure is not open to interested parties, not open to the masses, not open to the public. Public proof is to expand the knowledge of notarized legal facts, including notarized legal facts and notarized authorities themselves, to a range beyond the parties. The basic content of public proof is: Unless otherwise stipulated by law, the notarial office to prove legal facts or confirm the legal relationship should be open to the public, open to the masses. The notary office