                                 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.