On August 1, North Dakota will become the first state in the nation to implement significant changes to its Notary laws based on model legislation drafted by a national commission of state-appointed legal scholars — legislation that includes clearly defined new rules for eNotarization, personal appearance and refusal of improper acts.
To assist North Dakota Notaries in getting up to speed with their new state laws, the NNA is offering a comprehensive online video course addressing the changes.
The new law defines several specific guidelines for Notaries, including precise standards for satisfactory evidence of identity, notarial wording, personal appearance, refusal of improper acts, unauthorized practice of law and more. The law also includes eNotarization provisions — which take effect in August 2013 — that requires Notaries to use “tamper-evident” technology that visibly shows if the document is altered after the notarization.
The model legislation used to update the laws, known as the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (RULONA) and authored by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, provided state lawmakers with key guidance to modernize their notarial laws. North Dakota’s new law comes at a time when a number of other states are reviewing and updating their Notary laws and regulations.