As a professional association of Notaries Public, the National Notary Association remains committed to advocating for technology standards that both preserve and respect the importance of fundamental principles of notarization, including personal appearance of the signer before the Notary, proper identification of the signer by the Notary, and the keeping of an accurate and complete journal record of all notarial acts.

    OASIS LegalXML eNotary Technical Committee

OASIS is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business standards. The technical work of OASIS is driven by members; technical committees are formed based on the proposals of members, and the technical committees set their own agendas and schedules. OASIS provides the guidance, process, and infrastructure necessary for members to do the work.

The purpose of OASIS LegalXML eNotary Technical Committee is to develop an agreed upon set of technical requirements to govern self-proving electronic legal information. In plain speak, the goal of this committee is to develop XML and related technology standards for electronic notarization and Notary-related materials such as electronic Notary journals and Notary certificates (e.g., jurats and acknowledgments).

The National Notary Association chairs the OASIS Legal XML eNotary Technical Committee. Prospective members or interested parties can learn more about the work of this group by contacting the chair. Among other ongoing projects, at this time the technical committee is working to develop an XML specification for the storage and archival of electronic Notary journal records, and the secure transmission of those records to an authorized archival entity (such as a county recorder).

To learn more about OASIS, please visit their Web site.   
To learn more about the OASIS LegalXML eNotary Technical Committee, please visit their Web site.

MISMO (Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization)

MISMO was formed in 1999 to coordinate electronic standardization of real estate transactions and provide a common format for the electronic transfer of mortgage industry data. The National Notary Association participates as a subscribing member of MISMO and is active at conferences and committees in the organization.

Working with MISMO’s e-Mortgage Workgroup, the National Notary Association provides support and guidance on the subject of electronic notarization and participates in related work to lay the foundation for widespread adoption of electronic mortgages.

MISMO is comprised of 120 subscriber organizations, and more than 1,000 individual participants. Subscriber organizations include Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, lenders of all sizes and a diverse group of related businesses such as originators, mortgage insurers, servicers, credit reporters, land title professionals, mortgage brokers, hazard and flood insurers and tax service companies. A governance committee, elected from a cross section of the industry, provides oversight for MISMO’s administration and policy development.

To learn more about MISMO, please visit their Web site.

SPeRS (Standards and Procedures for Electronic Records and Signatures)

For some time now, laws and regulations have been passed and adopted that enable parties to sign agreements and other documents electronically – no paper, no pen, no ink. But the simple fact is that many companies, governments and especially individual citizens have been slow to accept this new way of signing.

The purpose of SPeRS is to provide a comprehensive set of legally informed guidelines that companies and other organizations can use to create and maintain technologies that allow people to sign electronic documents. The National Notary Association is working with SPeRS to develop similar guidelines for electronic notarization.

To learn more about SPeRS, please visit their Web site.

PRIA (Property Records Industry Association)

The National Notary Association is proud to be a founding member of PRIA. The mission of this standards body is to serve the property records industry by facilitating recordation and access to public property records through the formulation and dissemination of model standards, systems and procedures, while preserving the integrity of those records.

Of great importance to Notaries, PRIA has already developed electronic recording standards that enable Notaries to notarize electronic documents and submit those documents for electronic recordation.

To learn more about PRIA, please visit their Web site.