Title 42
State Affairs and Government

Chapter 30.1
Uniform Law on Notarial Acts

§ 42-30.1-2. Definitions.

For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Acknowledgment” means a declaration by an individual before a notarial officer that the individual has signed a record for the purpose stated in the record and, if the record is signed in a representative capacity, that the individual signed the record with proper authority and signed it as the act of the individual or entity identified in the record.

(2) “Commissioning agency” means the Rhode Island office of the secretary of state.

(3) “Commissioning officer” means the governor of the state of Rhode Island.

(4) “Communication technology” means an electronic device or process that:

(i) Allows simultaneous communication by sight and sound between a notary public and a remotely located individual; and

(ii) When necessary and consistent with other applicable law, facilitates communication with a remotely located individual who has a vision, hearing, or speech impairment by providing reasonable accommodations.

(5) “Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.

(6) “Electronic signature” means an electronic symbol, sound, or process attached to, or logically associated with, a record and executed or adopted by an individual with the intent to sign the record.

(7) “Foreign state” means a jurisdiction other than the United States, a state, territory, or a federally recognized Indian tribe.

(8) “Identity proofing” means a process or service by which a third person provides a notary public with a means to verify the identity of a remotely located individual by a review of personal information from public or private data sources.

(9) “In a representative capacity” means acting as:

(i) An authorized officer, agent, partner, trustee, or other representative for a person other than an individual;

(ii) A public officer, personal representative, guardian, or other representative, in the capacity stated in a record;

(iii) An agent or attorney-in-fact for a principal; or

(iv) An authorized representative of another in any other capacity.

(10) “Notarial act” means an act, whether performed with respect to a tangible or electronic record, that a notarial officer may perform under the law of this state. The term includes taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or affirmation, taking a verification on oath or affirmation, witnessing or attesting a signature, certifying or attesting a copy, noting a protest of a negotiable instrument and transact, do and finish all matters and things relating to protests and protesting bills of exchange and promissory notes, and all other matters within their office required by law, take depositions as prescribed by law, and acknowledgments of deeds and other instruments.

(11) “Notarial officer” means a notary public or other individual authorized to perform a notarial act.

(12) “Notary public” means an individual commissioned to perform a notarial act by the commissioning officer.

(13) “Official stamp” means a physical image affixed to a tangible record or an electronic image attached to, or logically associated with, an electronic record.

(14) “Outside the United States” means a location outside the geographic boundaries of the United States, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and any territory, insular possession, or other location subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(15) “Person” means an individual, corporation, business trust, statutory trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited-liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.

(16) “Record” 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.

(17) “Remotely located individual” means an individual who is not in the physical presence of the notary public who performs a notarial act pursuant to § 42-30.1-12.1.

(18) “Sign” means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:

(i) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or

(ii) To attach to, or logically associate with, the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.

(19) “Signature” means a tangible symbol or an electronic signature that evidences the signing of a record.

(20) “Stamping device” means:

(i) A physical device capable of affixing an official stamp upon a tangible record; or

(ii) An electronic device or process capable of attaching to, or logically associating an official stamp with, an electronic record.

(21) “State” means a state of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(22) “Verification on oath or affirmation” means a declaration that a statement in a record is true, made by an individual under oath or by affirmation before a notarial officer.