§ 5304. Definitions
As used in this chapter:
(1) “Acknowledgment” means a declaration by an individual before a notary public that
the individual has signed a record for the purpose stated in the record and, if the
record is signed in a representative capacity, that the individual signed the record
with proper authority and signed it as the act of the individual or entity identified
in the record.
(2) “Certificate” or “notarial certificate” means the part of, or attachment to, a notarized
document that is completed by a notary public, bears the required information set
forth in section 5367 of this chapter, and states the facts attested to or certified
by the notary public in a particular notarization.
(3) “Commission term” means the two-year period commencing on February 1 and continuing
through January 31 of the second year following the commencement of the term.
(4) “Communication technology” means an electronic device or process operating in accordance
with section 5380 of this chapter and any standards adopted by the Office pursuant
to section 5323 of this chapter that:
(A) allows a notary public and a remotely located individual to communicate with each
other simultaneously by sight and sound; and
(B) when necessary and consistent with other applicable laws, facilitates communication
with a remotely located individual who has a vision, hearing, or speech impairment.
(5) “Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless,
optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
(6) “Electronic signature” means an electronic symbol, sound, or process attached to or
logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by an individual with the
intent to sign the record.
(7) “Foreign state” means a government other than the United States, a state, or a federally
recognized Indian tribe.
(8) “Identity proofing” means a process or service operating in accordance with section
5380 of this chapter and any standards adopted by the Office pursuant to section 5323
of this chapter by which a third person provides a notary public with a means to verify
the identity of a remotely located individual by a review of personal information
from public or private data sources.
(9) “In a representative capacity” means acting as:
(A) an authorized officer, agent, partner, trustee, or other representative for a person
other than an individual;
(B) a public officer, personal representative, guardian, administrator, executor, trustee,
or other representative, in the capacity stated in a record;
(C) an agent or attorney-in-fact for a principal; or
(D) an authorized representative of another in any other capacity.
(10)(A) “Notarial act” means an act, whether performed with respect to a tangible or an electronic
record, that a notary public may perform under the law of this State. The term includes
taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation, taking a verification
on oath or affirmation, attesting a signature, certifying or attesting a copy, and
noting a protest of a negotiable instrument.
(B) “Notarial act” does not include a corporate officer attesting to another corporate
officer’s signature in the ordinary course of the corporation’s business.
(C) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require the use of a notary public to
witness a signature that is allowed by law to be witnessed by an individual who is
not a notary public.
(11) “Notarial officer” means a notary public or other individual authorized to perform
a notarial act
(12) “Notary public” means an individual commissioned to perform a notarial act by the
Office.
(13) “Office” means the Office of Professional Regulation within the Office of the Secretary
of State.
(14) “Official stamp” means a physical image affixed to or embossed on a tangible record
or an electronic image attached to or logically associated with an electronic record.
(15) “Outside the United States” means a location outside the geographic boundaries of
the United States; Puerto Rico; the U.S. Virgin Islands; and any territory, insular
possession, or other location subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
(16) “Person” means an individual, corporation, business trust, statutory trust, partnership,
limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government
or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial
entity.
(17) “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored
in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
(18) “Remotely located individual” means an individual who is not in the physical presence
of the notary public who performs a notarial act under section 5379 of this chapter.
(19) “Sign” means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:
(A) to execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
(B) to attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or
process.
(20) “Signature” means a tangible symbol or an electronic signature that evidences the
signing of a record.
(21) “Stamping device” means:
(A) a physical device capable of affixing to or embossing on a tangible record an official
stamp; or
(B) an electronic device or process capable of attaching to or logically associating with
an electronic record an official stamp.
(22) “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,
the U.S. Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction
of the United States.
(23) “Verification on oath or affirmation” means a declaration, made by an individual on
oath or affirmation before a notary public, that a statement in a record is true. (Added 2017, No. 160 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. July 1, 2019; amended 2019, No. 30, § 27; 2021, No. 171 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. July 1, 2022.)