Your Cookies are Disabled! NationalNotary.org sets cookies on your computer to help improve performance and provide a more engaging user experience. By using this site, you accept the terms of our cookie policy. Learn more.

Menu
National Notary Association

Knowledge Center

IL Administrative Rules 2023 (Journal)

Rule/Regulation

State: Illinois

Effective: June 05, 2023

Summary
This part 3 new law update on the 2023 administrative rules adopted by the Illinois Secretary of State provides various rules for a Notary’s and an Electronic Notary’s journal.
Affects

Adds Sections 176.900, 176.910, 176.920, 176.930, 176.940, 176.950, and 176.960 to Title 14, Subtitle A, Chapter I, Part 176 of the Illinois Administrative Code.

Changes

Journal Entries

  1. Requires the following entries to be recorded in an entry for each notarial act: (a) The name of the principal; (b) The name of each credible witness relied upon to verify the identity of the principal; (c) The name of any other person that signed for the principal; (d) The title or a description of the document notarized; (e) The date of the notarization; (f) Whether the notarization was conducted in person, remotely, or electronically; (g) The fee charged, if any; and (h) The physical location of the Notary and the principal.
  2. Provides that a journal may contain the signature of the individual for whom the notarial act is performed and any additional information about a specific transaction that might assist the Notary to recall the transaction.
  3. Prohibits the following information from being recorded in the journal: (a) An identification number that was assigned by a governmental agency or by the United States to the principal that is set forth on the identification card or passport presented as identification; (b) Any other number that could be used to identify the principal of the document; (c) A biometric identifier, including a fingerprint, voice print, or retina image of the principal; (d) An individual’s first name or first initial and last name in combination with and linked to any one or more of the following data elements when the data elements are not encrypted or redacted: a Social Security number, driver’s license number or a State identification card number, or financial account information; and (e) An electronic signature of the person for whom an electronic notarial act was performed or any witnesses.
  4. Requires a Notary who inadvertently records any prohibited information to redact such information before providing public access to or copies of the journal.
  5. Clarifies that each notarial fee charged should correspond to the notarial act performed. 
  6. Provides that if a Notary or Electronic Notary waives or does not charge a fee, the Notary shall indicate so in the journal entry using notarizations such as “n/c”, “0” (zero), or “ − “ (dash). 
  7. Requires clerical and administrative fees, if charged, to be separately itemized in the journal.
  8. Clarifies that for the purpose of journal entries, “address” means the city and state only.
  9. Provides that a Notary or an Electronic Notary who performs multiple notarizations for the same principal within a single transaction may abbreviate the entry of those notarizations in the journal after first including all the information required by the Act, and further requires the abbreviated entry to indicate the type of transaction and the number of documents notarized as part of that single transaction.
  10. Clarifies that a Notary who holds a commission on July 1, 2023, may continue to use the Notary’s journal until the completion of that journal or the expiration of that commission, whichever may occur first.

Tangible (Paper) Journals

  1. Permits a journal maintained on paper or any other tangible medium to be in any form that meets the physical requirements of Section 176.920 and the entry requirements in Section 176.910.
  2. Requires the cover and pages inside the tangible journal to be bound together by any binding method that is designed to prevent the insertion, removal, or substitution of the cover or a page, including glue, staples, grommets, or another binding, but not including the use of tape, paper clips, or binder clips.
  3. Requires each page of a tangible journal to be consecutively numbered from the beginning to the end of the journal.
  4. Provides that if a tangible journal provides two pages on which to record the required information about the same notarial act, both pages may be numbered with the same number or each page may be numbered with a different number. 
  5. Requires line and page numbers in a tangible journal to be preprinted.
  6. Requires each line, or entry if the tangible journal is designed with numbered entry blocks, to be consecutively numbered from the beginning to the end of the page. 
  7. Requires a line that extends across two pages in a tangible journal to be numbered with the same number on both pages.

Electronic Journals

  1. Permits a journal maintained in electronic format to be in any form that complies with Section 176.930 and the entry requirements in Section 176.910.
  2. Requires a journal maintained in an electronic format to be designed to prevent the insertion, removal, or substitution of an entry.
  3. Requires a journal maintained in an electronic format to be securely stored and recoverable in the case of a hardware or software malfunction.
  4. Requires entries from the notarial journal to be available upon request by the Secretary of State in a PDF format.

Control and Custody of the Journal

  1. Requires the journal of a Notary to remain within the exclusive control of the Notary at all times during the term of the Notary’s commission. 
  2. Provides that when not in use, the journal must be kept in a secure location and accessible only to the Notary. 
  3. Clarifies that a secure location includes the Notary’s sole possession or a locked location to which only the Notary has access.
  4. Requires a journal maintained in a tangible format to be retained for a minimum of 7 years after the final notarial act chronicled in the journal.
  5. Clarifies that the retention requirements do not apply to Notaries in the course of their employment with a governmental entity.

Lost, Compromised, Destroyed, or Stolen Journal

  1. Provides that notification of a lost, compromised, destroyed, or stolen journal under 5 ILCS 312/3-107 must be made in writing or electronically the next business day after the date the Notary or personal representative or guardian discovers the loss or theft of the journal. 
  2. Requires the notification to include all of the following: (a) A statement of whether the journal is lost, compromised, destroyed, or stolen; (b) An explanation of how the journal became lost, compromised, destroyed, or stolen; (c) The date the Notary discovered that the journal was lost, compromised, destroyed, or stolen; (d) A statement that the journal has been destroyed or that the Notary does not possess the journal and does not know who possesses it or where it is located; and (e) A statement that, if the Notary subsequently acquires possession of the lost or stolen journal, the Notary shall file a written statement with the Secretary of State within 10 business days after the date the Notary reacquires possession of the lost or stolen journal, including a written explanation of how the journal was recovered.

Journal Inspection, Subpoenas and Investigative Requests

  1. Permits, in the Notary’s presence, any person to inspect an entry in the official journal of notarial acts during the Notary’s regular business hours, but only if: (a) The person’s identity is personally known to the Notary or proven through satisfactory evidence; (b) The person affixes a signature in the journal in a separate, dated entry; (c) The person specifies the month, year, type of document, and the name of the principal for the notarial act or acts sought; and (d) The person is shown only the entry or entries specified.
  2. Authorizes a Notary who has a reasonable and explainable belief that a person has a criminal or harmful intent in requesting information from the Notary’s journal to deny access to any entry or entries.
  3. Requires a Notary to comply with a request for inspection or certified copies of a journal made through an investigative request by law enforcement or by the Secretary of State or in a subpoena in the course of criminal or civil litigation, or an administrative proceeding in the manner specified in the request or subpoena.
  4. Provides that if any portion of the audio-video recording of an electronic or remote notarization includes biometric information or includes an image of the identification card used to identify the principal, that portion of the recording is confidential and shall not be released without consent of the individual whose identity is being established, unless ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction or upon request by the Secretary of State.
  5. Provides that a failure of a Notary to promptly and adequately respond to a request for public information may be good cause for suspension or revocation of a Notary or an Electronic Notary commission or other disciplinary action against the Notary or Electronic Notary.

Electronic Journal Retention and Depositories

  1. Requires a Notary to retain the electronic journal required and any audio-video recording created under 5 ILCS 312/6A-104 in a computer or other electronic storage device that protects the journal and recording against unauthorized access by password or cryptographic process.
  2. Requires recordings of remote and electronic notarizations to be created in an industry-standard, audio-visual file format and not include images of any electronic record that was the subject of the electronic or remote notarization.
  3. Requires an electronic journal to be retained for at least 7 years after the last electronic or remote notarial act chronicled in the journal and an audio-visual recording to be retained for at least 7 years after the recording is made.
  4. Requires a Notary to take reasonable steps to ensure that a backup of the electronic journal and audio-visual recording exists and is secure from unauthorized use.
  5. Provides that on the death or adjudication of incompetency of a current or former Notary, the Notary’s personal representative or guardian or any other person knowingly in possession of an electronic journal or audio-visual recording must: (a) Comply with the retention requirements of Section 176.960; (b) Transmit the journal and recordings to one or more depositories Section 176.960(e); or (c) Transmit the journal and recordings in an industry-standard readable data storage device to the Illinois Secretary of State, Index Department at 111 E. Monroe St., Springfield, IL  62756.
  6. Authorizes a Notary, guardian, conservator, or agent of a Notary, or a personal representative of a deceased Notary to, by written contract, engage a third person to act as a depository to provide the storage required by Section 176.920.
  7. Provides that a contract with a depository must: (a) Enable the Notary, guardian, conservator, or agent of the Notary, or the personal representative of the deceased Notary, to comply with the retention requirements of Section 176.920 even if the contract is terminated; or (b) Provide that the information will be transferred to the Notary, guardian, conservator, or agent of the Notary, or the personal representative of the deceased Notary, if the contract is terminated.
  8. Clarifies that the retention requirements do not apply to Notaries in the course of their employment with a governmental entity.
Analysis

This part 3 new law update of the 2023 Illinois Notary administrative rules provides the changes to the law related to Notary’s and Electronic Notary’s electronic journal. The underlying statutes giving authority for the new rules in Public Act 102-0160 contained provisions requiring Notaries and Electronic Notaries to keep a journal, but left many of the particulars to be fleshed out in administrative rules. These include the required, prohibited, and optional entries to be recorded in the journal, format of the journal, the custody and control of the journal, inspection and retention of the journal, and depositories for electronic journals and recordings of remote and electronic notarizations. The rules related to these matters are noted in the Changes section above.

Read the adopted administrative rules (see page 8656).

Below are links to the other new law updates on the 2023 Illinois administrative rules.

Close