§ 6A-103 — Electronic notarial acts

(a) An electronic notary public: (1) is a notary public for purposes of this Act and is subject to all provisions of this Act; (2) may perform notarial acts as provided by this Act in addition to performing electronic notarizations; and (3) may perform an electronic notarization authorized under this Article. (b) In performing an electronic notarization, an electronic notary public shall verify the identity of a person creating an electronic signature at the time that the signature is taken by using two-way audio and video conference technology that meets the requirements of this Act and rules adopted under this Article. For the purposes of performing an electronic notarial act for a person using audio-video communication, an electronic notary public has satisfactory or documentary evidence of the identity of the person if the electronic notary public confirms the identity of the person by: (1) the electronic notary public's personal knowledge of the person creating the electronic signature; or (2) each of the following: (A) remote electronic presentation by the person creating the electronic signature of a government-issued identification credential, including a passport or driver's license, that contains the signature and a photograph of the person; (B) credential analysis of the front and back of the government-issued identification credential and the data thereon; and (C) a dynamic knowledge-based authentication assessment. (c) An electronic notary public may perform any of the acts set forth in Section 6-102 using audio-video communication in accordance with this Section and any rules adopted by the Secretary of State. (d) If an electronic notarial act is performed using audio-video communication: (1) the technology must allow the persons communicating to see and speak to each other simultaneously; (2) the signal transmission must be in real time; and (3) the electronic notarial act must be recorded. (e) The validity of the electronic notarial act will be determined by applying the laws of the State of Illinois. (f) The electronic notarial certificate for an electronic notarization must include a notation that the notarization is an electronic notarization. (g) When performing an electronic notarization, an electronic notary public shall complete an electronic notarial certificate and attach or logically associate the electronic notary's electronic signature and seal to that certificate in a tamper evident manner. Evidence of tampering pursuant to this standard may be used to determine whether the electronic notarial act is valid or invalid. (h) The liability, sanctions, and remedies for improper performance of electronic notarial acts are the same as described and provided by law for the improper performance of non-electronic notarial acts as described under Section 7-108. (i) Electronic notarial acts need to fulfill certain basic requirements to ensure non-repudiation and the capability of being authenticated by the Secretary of State for purposes of issuing apostilles and certificates of authentication. The requirements are as follows: (1) the fact of the electronic notarial act, including the electronic notary's identity, signature, and electronic commission status, must be verifiable by the Secretary of State; and (2) the notarized electronic document will be rendered ineligible for authentication by the Secretary of State if it is improperly modified after the time of electronic notarization, including any unauthorized alterations to the document content, the electronic notarial certificate, the electronic notary public's electronic signature, or the electronic notary public's official electronic seal. (Source: P.A. 102-160, eff. 6-5-23 (See Section 91 of P.A. 103-562 for effective date of P.A. 102-160).)