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VT Administrative Rules (2025)

Rule/Regulation

State: Vermont
Signed: February 05, 2025

Effective: February 26, 2025

Summary

The Vermont Secretary of State adopts permanent rules for remote and in-person electronic notarization, official stamps, reporting name changes, complaints, and administrative matters.

Affects

Adds Section 04-030-015 to the Code of Vermont Rules.

Changes

Definitions

  1. Defines “commission,” “commission number,” “digital certificate,” “electronic notarial certificate,” “electronic official stamp,” “electronic record,” “electronic signature,” “notarization,” “Notary Public,” “physical official stamp,” “remote electronic notarial act,” “special endorsement,” “tamper evident,” and “tamper-evident technology.”

Notary Commission and Special Endorsement

  1. Requires commission and special endorsement applications to be completed through the Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) website.
  2. Provides that an application will not be processed until all required questions have been answered fully, all attestations made, all required documentation and materials provided, and all fees paid.
  3. Requires that when OPR intends to deny an application based on unprofessional conduct or an ongoing investigation for unprofessional conduct, notice must be sent to the applicant by certified mail stating the reasons for the action.
  4. Provides that an applicant has 30 days to seek a hearing before an administrative law officer in accordance with 3 V.S.A. § 129(e)(1) upon notice that OPR intends to deny the application.
  5. Requires OPR, when denying an application for a commission based on a finding by the Director that the applicant has not fulfilled the qualifications or met the standards required for issuance of the commission or special endorsement, to send a notice to the applicant by certified mail stating the reasons for the denial.
  6. Provides that an applicant has a right to appeal OPR’s decision to deny an application for commission in accordance with 3 V.S.A. §§ 129(e)(2) and 130a.
  7. Authorizes OPR to refuse to accept any application found to be redundant with a denied or in-process application.
  8. Clarifies that OPR may deem expired any application for a commission or special endorsement that is left incomplete for six months.
  9. Provides that Notaries who are law enforcement-related employees are not required to obtain a special endorsement to perform notarial acts on electronic records and for remotely located individuals within the scope of their official duties.
  10. Provides that to be eligible for a special endorsement a Notary must attest to selecting and using identity proofing technology for any notarial acts performed for remotely located individuals that complies with the rules.

Renewal of Commission and Special Endorsement

  1. Clarifies that a commission and any associated special endorsement expires if not renewed by midnight at the conclusion of the date of expiration.
  2. Provides that online commission and special endorsement renewal applications must be completed through the OPR website.
  3. Provides that non-receipt of an email reminder at the end of each biennial commission period from OPR does not excuse a Notary from the obligation to continuously maintain a commission or special endorsement, or the consequences of failing to do so.
  4. Provides that an applicant issued a special endorsement within 90 days of the end of a biennial period will not be required to renew the endorsement, pay any renewal fees, or complete any continuing education prior to the end of that biennial period, and the endorsement will be issued through the next full biennial period.
  5. Provides that late renewal applications are subject to reinstatement penalty fees and waivers of reinstatement penalty fees may be requested through the online licensing system.
  6. Provides that renewal of a special endorsement requires 1 additional hour of continuing education pertaining to the performance of notarial acts on electronic records or for remotely located individuals, or both.
  7. Requires an application for renewal of a special endorsement to include documentation of the Notary’s successful completion of the continuing education course that includes the name and date of the course, proof of attendance, and number of continuing education credit hours awarded.

Notarial Acts

  1. Requires Notaries to sign notarial acts using the same name they signed on the notarized oath of office submitted in their commission.
  2. Requires a Notary certifying that a tangible copy of an electronic record is an accurate copy of the electronic record to reasonably determine whether the electronic record is in a tamper-evident format.
  3. Requires a Notary certifying a tangible copy of an electronic record to personally print or supervise the printing of the electronic record onto paper or another tangible medium.
  4. Prohibits a Notary from certifying a tangible copy of an electronic record if the Notary detects a change or an error in an electronic signature or other information in the electronic record.

Notarial Acts on Electronic Records

  1. Provides that a Notary may refuse to perform a notarial act on an electronic record using technology not selected by the Notary.
  2. Requires an electronic notarial certificate to indicate that the notarial act was performed on an electronic record.

Physical Official Stamp

  1. Provides that a physical official stamp may not include the Vermont State Seal.
  2. Provides that if a physical official stamp is used, it must minimally include the Notary’s name as signed on the Notary’s oath of office; the word “Vermont”; the title “Notary Public”, and the Notary’s commission number.
  3. Provides that if the physical official stamp includes the Notary’s commission expiration date, upon expiration of the commission the Notary must either replace the stamp with one that includes and updated commission expiration date or discontinue the use of a physical official stamp.
  4. Requires a Notary or the Notary’s personal representative or guardian to notify OPR no later than within 48 hours after the discovery that a physical official stamp is lost or stolen.

Notarial Acts for Remotely Located Individuals

  1. Provides that a Notary mustselect one or more communication technologies that conform with the rules to perform notarial acts for remotely located individuals.
  2. Requires the recording of a notarial act for a remotely located individual to be retained for at least 7 years from the date of the notarial act.
  3. Prohibits a representative from signing a record on behalf of another person if the individual is not able to physically sign a record because the individual is remotely located.

Standards for Communication Technology

  1. Requires communication technology to provide sufficient audio clarity and visual resolution to enable the Notary and the remotely located individual to see and speak to each other, simultaneously and without interruption, through live, real-time transmission throughout the duration of the notarial act, including through identity proofing, the signing by any parties present during the transaction, and the application of the Notary's signature and seal.
  2. Requires communication technology to facilitate communication with a remotely located individual who has a vision, hearing, or speech impairment.
  3. Requires communication technology to permit sufficient visual clarity to enable the Notary to view, read, and record the front and back of any identification card presented as verification of identity.
  4. Requires communication technology to provide for confirmation of the record under CVR 04-030-015, Part 8-2(c).
  5. Requires communication technology to include means of authentication that reasonably ensures only the authorized parties have access to the communication technology.
  6. Requires communication technology to provide reasonable security measures to prevent unauthorized access to the following: (a) live communication between the Notary and remotely located individual; (b) the recording of the notarial act; (c) verification methods and credentials used to verify the identity of the Remotely located individual; and (d) Any electronic records presented for the performance of a notarial act.
  7. Requires communication technology to be capable of producing recordings of notarial acts for remotely located individuals in response to a request from the Notary Public, OPR, a court, or law enforcement in the course of an investigation; and (viii) be capable of securely creating, storing, accessing, and reproducing a copy of a recording of a notarial act as required by CVR 04-030-015, Part 8-2(f).
  8. Requires communication technology to be capable of securely creating, storing, accessing, and reproducing a copy of a recording of a notarial act as required by CVR 04-030-015, Part 8-2(f).

Standards for Identity Proofing

  1. Requires a Notary who does not have satisfactory evidence of the identity of a remotely located individual in accordance with 26 V.S.A. §§ 5365(a) or (b) to verify the remotely located individual’s identity through both a credential analysis procedure and a dynamic knowledge-based authentication (DKBA) assessment.
  2. Requires the credential analysis to use public or private data sources to confirm the validity of the identification credential presented by a remotely located individual which must, at a minimum (a) use automated software processes to aid the Notary in verifying the identity of each Remotely located individual; (b) require the identification credential to pass an authenticity test, consistent with sound commercial practices, that uses appropriate technologies to confirm the integrity of visual, physical, or cryptographic security features and to confirm that the identification credential is not fraudulent or inappropriately modified; (c) use information held or published by the issuing source or an authoritative source, as available and consistent with sound commercial practices, to confirm the validity of personal details and identification credential details; and (d) enable the Notary to visually to compare for consistency the information and photograph on the identification credential and the remotely located individual as viewed by the Notary in real time through communication technology.
  3. Provides that a DKBA assessment is successful if it meets the following requirements: (a) the Remotely located individual must answer a quiz consisting of a minimum of five questions related to the individual's personal history or identity formulated from public or private data sources; (b) each question must have a minimum of five possible answer choices; (c) at least 80% of the questions must be answered correctly; (d) all questions must be answered within two minutes; (e) if the Remotely located individual fails the first attempt, the individual may retake the quiz once within 24 hours; (f) during a retake of the quiz, a minimum of 40% of the prior questions must be replaced; (g) if the Remotely located individual fails the second attempt, the individual must not be allowed to retry with the same online Notary within 24 hours of the second failed attempt; and (h) the Notary must not be able to see or record the questions or answers.

Name Changes

  1. Requires a Notary to report the change of the Notary’s name, address, and e-mail address to OPR by updating the Notary’s online file within 30 days after the change.
  2. Requires a Notary to report the change of the Notary’s name, address, and e-mail address to OPR by updating the Notary’s online file within 30 days after the change.
  3. Prohibits a Notary from performing notarial acts after a name change until the updated oath of office is submitted to OPR.

Complaints and Administrative Procedures

  1. Provides that complaints against Notaries, applicants for a Notary commission, or unauthorized persons practicing without a required commission or special endorsement may be submitted through the OPR website.
  2. Provides that procedures in contested cases relating to commissions, special endorsements, or discipline are governed by the Office of Professional Regulation Administrative Rules of Practice, CVR 04-030-005, as those rules may from time to time be modified.
  3. Provides that petitions for declaratory rulings as to the applicability of any statutory provision or of any rule or order of the Office may be made pursuant to 3 V.S.A. § 808 and Office procedure.
  4. Requires OPR to comply with applicable provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  5. Provides that where a standard of unprofessional conduct set forth in statute conflicts with a standard set forth in rule, the standard that is most protective of the public shall govern.
  6. Provides that the Director will not grant routine waivers or variances from any provisions of these rules without amending the rules.
  7. Clarifies that where, in extraordinary circumstances, application of a rule would result in manifest unfairness, an absurd result, unjustifiable inefficiency, or an outcome otherwise inimical to the public health, safety, and welfare, OPR may, upon written request of an interested party, so find, grant a waiver with or without particular conditions and limitations, and record the action and justification in a written memorandum, and further provides that this rule shall not be construed as creating any administrative hearing right or cause of action.
Analysis

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Vermont Secretary of State adopted emergency rules allowing Vermont Notaries to notarize tangible documents for remotely located signers. These temporary rules were extended multiple times in 180-day increments while permanent remote online notarization and in-person electronic notarization rules were developed. 

In 2024, the Secretary of State expanded the emergency rules, introducing rules for the statutory special endorsement for Notaries performing notarial acts on electronic records and for remotely located individuals. The special endorsement requirement was waived during the pandemic, but during this time Notaries were prohibited from notarizing electronic documents. 

These permanent administrative rules now pave the way for Notaries to apply with the Office of Professional Regulation to perform in-person electronic and remote notarial acts.  

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