What is (and isn’t) RON?
With current efforts to minimize in-person interactions, there has been a push across the country to implement emergency measures to allow notarizations to be conducted remotely. However, what processes are permissible under these emergency measures and how they stack up to other closing methods, including remote online notarization, can be confusing.
A
remote online notarization (RON) is a process of notarizing a document in a digital, online platform while the notary and the signer are in different physical locations. RON involves electronic documents executed by the signer using electronic signatures and notarized electronically using an electronic version of any required stamp or seal. The electronically notarized document should then be sealed in a tamper-evident manner to prevent any unauthorized changes to the document.
In contrast, a
remote ink notarization (RIN), permissible under many states’ emergency executive orders, rules, legislation, and other guidance, would allow a notary in a different physical location from a signer to observe the signer executing the document over a video conference. The signer would execute the document with wet-ink signatures and transfer the document by mail or other delivery service. Upon receipt, the notary would apply a wet notarization and any required ink stamp or seal to the original document.
