Rules & Regulations of the State of Tennessee
Title 1360 - Department of State
Subtitle 1360-07 - Business Services Division
Chapter 1360-07-03 - Online Notaries Public
Section 1360-07-03-.03 - PERFORMANCE OF NOTARIAL ACTS

(1) An online notary public may perform authorized online notarial acts relating to electronic documents only if the principal personally appears before the online notary public at the time of the notarization; however, such personal appearance may be by means of an electronic two-way audio and video communication.

(2) An online notary public may perform authorized notarial acts by means of an electronic interactive two-way audio and video communication only when the online notary public is physically located within this state, without regard to whether the principal is physically located in this state at the time of the online notarization.

(3) An online notary public shall require the principal to demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the online notary public, that such person is not under duress and is not otherwise being coerced to complete the transaction, in order to preserve the integrity, security, and authenticity of online notarizations. An online notary public is authorized to refuse to perform a notarial act when the online notary public has reasonable grounds to believe that the principal is acting under coercion or undue influence.

(4) An online notary public must verify the identity of a principal at the time that the signature is taken by means of two-way video and audio conference technology. Identity may be verified by the online notary public's personal knowledge of the principal, or by:

(5) Under no circumstances shall an online notary public base identification merely on familiarity with a principal's electronic signature or an electronic verification process that authenticates the principal's electronic signature when the principal does not personally appear before the online notary public.

(6) The online notary public shall refuse to complete the performance of a notarial act where:

(7) The online notary public shall complete and attach an electronic notarial certificate to all written notarial acts that identifies the principal, the date of notarization, the state and county in which the notarization was performed, that the notarial act was an online notarization, and the type of notarial act performed. The electronic notarial certificate shall be signed by affixing or logically associating the online notary public's electronic notarial certificate, electronic signature, and electronic seal in a manner that is capable of independent verification and renders any subsequent change or modification to the electronic document evident.

(8) An online notary public performing authorized notarial acts must also satisfy the following requirements.

An online notary public, or his or her properly designated custodian or repository, must keep, for at least 5 years after the date of the transaction or proceeding, a secure electronic record of all electronic documents notarized by the online notary public, containing all of the following information:

(9) The online notary public must take reasonable steps to ensure that the two-way video and audio communication used is encrypted during transmission, through means such as a virtual private network (VPN), and secure from unauthorized interception.

(10) The online notary public shall not disclose any access information used to affix the online notary public's electronic notarial certificate, signature, and seal, except when requested by the Secretary of State, law enforcement, the courts, or pursuant to an agreement between the online notary public and an electronic documentation preparation and transmission vendor, which agreement shall have in place reasonable precautions to prevent the unauthorized release of access information.

(11) The online notary public should ensure that all records relating to any individual transaction are securely stored using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as a minimum encryption standard and that the principal's personally identifying information or any government-issued identification numbers cannot be accessed by unauthorized individuals. The online notary public should refrain from recording, or take steps to obscure from the recording, any identification number that was assigned to the principal by a governmental agency or by the United States and any other number(s) that could be used to identify the principal.

(12) Records of an online notarization shall be retained, in a safe and secure manner, for five years following the date of the notarization. An online notary public must also maintain a backup of the electronic records for the same period of time. Both the original records and the backup shall be protected from unauthorized use. An online notary public may elect to store such recordings with a custodian or repository and such recordings may be stored separately from the journal as long as the corresponding journal entry cross-references the place of storage and describes the manner in which the record is stored.

(13) An online notary public may use his or her electronic signature only for preforming online notarizations. The online notary public may certify that a tangible copy of an electronic record is an accurate copy of the electronic record by also affixing his or her signature and seal to the copy of the electronic record in the traditional manner or other manner authorized by law, but only where the online notary public is capable of independently verifying the document is a true and correct copy of the electronic record consistent with the requirements of T.C.A. § 66-24-101(d).