Updated Notarial Capabilities

The following changes to the Alaska Administrative Code will be in effect by January 1, 2021. Included in Register 237.

Guidance on Implementing Notarizations for Remotely Located Individuals

Filed Permanent Regulations: Office of the Lieutenant Governor

In addition to the required $40 fee to be a notary, an individual wanting to perform notarial acts for a remotely located individual must pay $100 at time of initial request following approval of a 4 year commission or $25 per remaining year(s) of pre-existing commission, to the State of Alaska.

A commissioned notary must have the correct technology as required by law to perform this type of notarial service. Notaries must select a technology vendor (see a list of vendors on our Resources for Alaska Notaries Public page) and meet certifications to be associated with a chosen vendor. Vendor must meet standards set by the regulations.

A notary must notify our office and be approved prior to performance of notarial act.

Communication technology must provide for synchronous audio-video feeds of sufficient video resolution and audio clarity to enable the notary public and remotely located individual to see and speak with each other in real time. The process must provide a means for the notary public to reasonably confirm that a record before the notary public is the same record in which the remotely located individual made a statement or on which the remotely located individual executed a signature.

Communication technology must provide reasonable security measures to prevent unauthorized access to:

• the live transmission of the audio-video feeds;
• the methods used to perform the identity proofing; and
• the electronic record that is the subject of the remote online notarization.

Identity proofing is mentioned in statutes but expanded to include the ways a technology vendor will provide methods of verifying a signer’s identity using their communication technology. The procedure must analyze the individual’s identification credential that is the subject of remote presentation against trusted third-party data sources, bind the individual’s identity to the individual following a successful knowledge-based authentication assessment, and permit the notary public to visually compare the identification credential and the individual. Credential analysis and identity proofing must be performed by a reputable third party that has provided evidence to the notary public of its ability to satisfy the requirements of this chapter.

There are instances where a credible witness can be used to verify a signer’s identity. The credible witness must take part in the synchronous audio-video feed.

As part of the remote transaction, there must be a statement included that the notarization was performed using communication technology.