PROVIDENCE, RI -- The state’s 21,000 notaries public now have their first official code of conduct for doing business in Rhode Island, Governor Donald L. Carcieri and Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis have announced.
“Serving as a notary public comes with significant responsibility to uphold public trust. This is a great first step to provide notaries public with best practices that protects both the notary public and members of the general public,” said Carcieri, in signing the executive order creating the guidelines. “Through this collaborative effort between my office and the Secretary of State, we are better served to protect the public against identity theft and fraud.”
The two offices collaborated on official Standards of Conduct that outline the scope and duties of a notary public, prohibited actions, disciplinary actions, advertising requirements and notary definitions in addition to other important information pertaining to the notary’s commission.
“Notaries public play an important role in preventing fraud and verifying the identity of individuals. Government, business and the public depend on the integrity of notaries public. We have an obligation to the public to ensure notaries possess the honesty, integrity and knowledge necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of their commissioned office,” said Mollis.
Notaries public are state-commissioned officials who administer oaths, certify documents and perform other specified legal functions. A notary public's signature and seal are required to authenticate the signatures on many legal documents including mortgages among many common business documents.
The Secretary of State’s office maintains the records of notaries public, authenticates their signatures and keeps on record the official signature of every notary public.
“For some time notaries have been asking for assistance in enhancing the public’s perception of the industry’s professionalism. In response, we created official guidelines for performing the duties of notary public,” said Mollis.
The new standards prohibit a series of acts including refusing to perform a notarial act based on someone’s race, religion or gender among other factors. In addition, they recommend that notaries public:
* Notarize only when the person whose signature is being notarized is present and presents satisfactory evidence of his or her identity. * Use a seal that includes the notary’s name exactly as it appears on his or her commission when notarizing documents. * Adopt standard operating procedures when notarizing documents and keep a written record of notarial acts including a description of the document. * Refrain from influencing a person to enter into or avoid a transaction, except in cases when the act may be unlawful.
The new standards will be considered in the appointment and reappointment of notaries. State law already gives the Governor the authority to revoke a notary public’s commission for official misconduct. The new guidelines are posted at www.sec.state.ri.us and www.gov.ri.gov.