                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 47.1-2)

As used in this title, unless the context demands a different meaning:
		&#8220;Acknowledgment&#8221; means a notarial act in which an individual at a
single time and place (i) appears in person before the notary and presents a
document; (ii) is personally known to the notary or identified by the notary
through satisfactory evidence of identity; and (iii) indicates to the notary
that the signature on the document was voluntarily affixed by the individual for
the purposes stated within the document and, if applicable, that the individual
had due authority to sign in a particular representative capacity.
		&#8220;Affirmation&#8221; means a notarial act, or part thereof, that is
legally equivalent to an oath and in which an individual at a single time and
place (i) appears in person before the notary and presents a document; (ii) is
personally known to the notary or identified by the notary through satisfactory
evidence of identity; and (iii) makes a vow of truthfulness or fidelity on
penalty of perjury.
		&#8220;Commissioned notary public&#8221; means that the applicant has
completed and submitted the registration forms along with the appropriate fee to
the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Secretary of the Commonwealth has
determined that the applicant meets the qualifications to be a notary public and
issues a notary commission and forwards same to the clerk of the circuit court,
pursuant to this chapter.
		&#8220;Copy certification&#8221; means a notarial act in which a notary (i) is
presented with a document that is not a public record; (ii) copies or supervises
the copying of the document using a photographic or electronic copying process;
(iii) compares the document to the copy; and (iv) determines that the copy is
accurate and complete.
		&#8220;Credential analysis&#8221; means a process or service that
independently affirms the veracity of a government-issued identity credential by
reviewing public or proprietary data sources and meets the standards of the
Secretary of the Commonwealth.
		&#8220;Credible witness&#8221; means an honest, reliable, and impartial person
who personally knows an individual appearing before a notary and takes an oath
or affirmation from the notary to confirm that individual&#8217;s identity.
		&#8220;Document&#8221; 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, including a record as defined in the Uniform Electronic
Transactions Act (§ 59.1-479 et seq.).
		&#8220;Electronic&#8221; means relating to technology having electrical,
digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
		&#8220;Electronic document&#8221; means information that is created,
generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored by electronic means.
		&#8220;Electronic notarial act&#8221; or &#8220;electronic notarization&#8221;
means an official act by a notary under § 47.1-12 or as otherwise authorized by
law that involves electronic documents.
		&#8220;Electronic notarial certificate&#8221; means the portion of a notarized
electronic document that is completed by the notary public, bears the notary
public&#8217;s signature, title, commission expiration date, and other required
information concerning the date and place of the electronic notarization, and
states the facts attested to or certified by the notary public in a particular
notarization. The &#8220;electronic notarial certificate&#8221; shall indicate
whether the notarization was done in person or by remote online notarization.
		&#8220;Electronic notary public&#8221; or &#8220;electronic notary&#8221;
means a notary public who has been commissioned by the Secretary of the
Commonwealth with the capability of performing electronic notarial acts under §
47.1-7.
		&#8220;Electronic notary seal&#8221; or &#8220;electronic seal&#8221; means
information within a notarized electronic document that confirms the
notary&#8217;s name, jurisdiction, and commission expiration date and generally
corresponds to data in notary seals used on paper documents.
		&#8220;Electronic signature&#8221; means an electronic sound, symbol, or
process attached to or logically associated with an electronic document and
executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the document.
		&#8220;Identity proofing&#8221; means a process or service that independently
verifies an individual&#8217;s identity in accordance with § 2.2-436.
		&#8220;Knowledge-based authentication assessment&#8221; means an identity
assessment formulated from public or private data sources for which the
principal has not provided a prior answer that meets the following requirements:

1. The principal shall answer a quiz composed of at least five questions related
to the principal&#8217;s personal history or identity;

2. At least five possible answer choices shall be available for each question;

3. The principal shall pass the quiz if he achieves a score of 80 percent or
higher;

4. The principal shall have two minutes to answer the questions on the quiz;

5. If the principal fails to achieve a score of at least 80 percent, the
principal may attempt up to two additional quizzes within 48 hours following the
first failed quiz; and

6. No more than 60 percent of the questions from the initial quiz can be reused
on additional quizzes.
			&#8220;Notarial act&#8221; or &#8220;notarization&#8221; means any official
act performed by a notary under &#xA7; 47.1-12 or 47.1-13 or as otherwise
authorized by law.
			&#8220;Notarial certificate&#8221; or &#8220;certificate&#8221; means the
part of, or attachment to, a notarized document that is completed by the notary
public, bears the notary public&#8217;s signature, title, commission expiration
date, notary registration number, and other required information concerning the
date and place of the notarization and states the facts attested to or certified
by the notary public in a particular notarization.
			&#8220;Notary public&#8221; or &#8220;notary&#8221; means any person
commissioned to perform official acts under the title, and includes an
electronic notary except where expressly provided otherwise.
			&#8220;Oath&#8221; shall include &#8220;affirmation.&#8221;
			&#8220;Official misconduct&#8221; means any violation of this title by a
notary, whether committed knowingly, willfully, recklessly or negligently.
			&#8220;Personal knowledge of identity&#8221; or &#8220;personally
knows&#8221; means familiarity with an individual resulting from interactions
with that individual over a period of time sufficient to dispel any reasonable
uncertainty that the individual has the identity claimed.
			&#8220;Principal&#8221; means (i) a person whose signature is notarized or
(ii) a person, other than a credible witness, taking an oath or affirmation from
the notary.
			&#8220;Record of notarial acts&#8221; means a device for creating and
preserving a chronological record of notarizations performed by a notary.
			&#8220;Remote online notarization&#8221; means an electronic notarization
under this chapter where the signer is not in the physical presence of the
notary.
			&#8220;Satisfactory evidence of identity&#8221; means identification of an
individual based on (i) examination of one or more of the following unexpired
documents bearing a photographic image of the individual&#8217;s face and
signature: a United States Passport Book, a United States Passport Card, a
certificate of United States citizenship, a certificate of naturalization, a
foreign passport, an alien registration card with photograph, a state issued
driver&#8217;s license or a state issued identification card or a United States
military card or (ii) the oath or affirmation of one credible witness unaffected
by the document or transaction who is personally known to the notary and who
personally knows the individual or of two credible witnesses unaffected by the
document or transaction who each personally knows the individual and shows to
the notary documentary identification as described in clause (i). In the case of
an individual who resides in an assisted living facility, as defined in &#xA7;
63.2-100, or a nursing home, licensed by the State Department of Health pursuant
to Article 1 (&#xA7; 32.1-123 et seq.) of Chapter 5 of Title 32.1 or exempt from
licensure pursuant to &#xA7; 32.1-124, an expired United States Passport Book,
expired United States Passport Card, expired foreign passport, or expired state
issued driver&#8217;s license or state issued identification card may also be
used for identification of such individual, provided that the expiration of such
document occurred within five years of the date of use for identification
purposes pursuant to this title. In the case of an electronic notarization,
&#8220;satisfactory evidence of identity&#8221; may be based on video and audio
conference technology, in accordance with the standards for electronic video and
audio communications set out in subdivisions B 1, 2, and 3 of &#xA7; 19.2-3.1,
that permits the notary to communicate with and identify the principal at the
time of the notarial act, provided that such identification is confirmed by (a)
personal knowledge, (b) an oath or affirmation of a credible witness who
personally knows the principal and is either personally known to the notary or
is identified pursuant to clause (c), or (c) is identified by at least two of
the following: (1) credential analysis of an unexpired government-issued
identification bearing a photograph of the principal&#8217;s face and signature;
(2) identity proofing by an antecedent in-person identity proofing process in
accordance with the specifications of the Federal Bridge Certification
Authority, including any supplements thereto or revisions thereof; (3) another
identity proofing method authorized in guidance documents, regulations, or
standards adopted pursuant to &#xA7; 2.2-436; (4) a valid digital certificate
accessed by biometric data or by use of an interoperable Personal Identity
Verification card that is designed, issued, and managed in accordance with the
specifications published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
in Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 201-1, &#8220;Personal
Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors,&#8221; and
supplements thereto or revisions thereof, including the specifications published
by the Federal Chief Information Officers Council in &#8220;Personal Identity
Verification Interoperability for Non-Federal Issuers&#8221;; or (5) a
knowledge-based authentication assessment.
			&#8220;Seal&#8221; means a device for affixing on a paper document an image
containing the notary&#8217;s name and other information related to the
notary&#8217;s commission.
			&#8220;Secretary&#8221; means the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
			&#8220;State&#8221; includes any state, territory, or possession of the
United States.
			&#8220;Verification of fact&#8221; means a notarial act in which a notary
reviews public or vital records to (i) ascertain or confirm facts regarding a
person&#8217;s identity, identifying attributes, or authorization to access a
building, database, document, network, or physical site or (ii) validate an
identity credential on which satisfactory evidence of identity may be based.

HISTORY: 1980, c. 580; 2007, cc. 269, 590; 2011, cc. 731, 834; 2012, c. 566;
2016, c. 185; 2020, c. 902; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 78; 2024, c. 832.