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OH Administrative Rules (2025)

Rule/Regulation

State: Ohio

Effective: June 10, 2025

Summary

New rules adopted by the Ohio Secretary of State pertain to mandatory examinations, courses, and course  providers, as well as online notarial acts and complaints.

Affects

Amends Rules 111:6-1-01, 111:6-1-02, 111:6-1-05, and 111:6-1-06 and rescinds Rule 111:6-1-07 of the Ohio Administrative Code.

Changes
  1. Strikes the previous definition of "disqualifying offense."
  2. Clarifies that the examination for a Notary commission must include any updates to Ohio's Notary laws or administrative rules.
  3. Requires an authorized education and testing provider to update its continuing education curriculum and examination when there are legislative updates to Ohio's Notary law or changes to the administrative rules.
  4. Requires updated education and examination materials to be submitted electronically to the secretary of state for review, identified, and submitted to the Secretary of State by the established deadline.
  5. Requires authorized education and testing providers to be expected to be subject matter experts on Ohio's Notary laws and the administrative rules.
  6. Provides that it is the education and testing provider’s responsibility to track and understand legislative and rule changes, and update continuing education and testing materials accordingly.
  7. Clarifies that identity proofing for an online notarial act must be performed by means of dynamic knowledge-based authentication or through another process approved by the Secretary of State.
  8. Clarifies that an online notarization system must have signal transmission with live, real time audio-visual feeds.
  9. Requires a complaint against a Notary to be submitted to the Secretary of State on a form prescribed by the Secretary and made available on the Secretary’s website or by contacting the Business Services Division of the Secretary's office.
  10. Strikes the current investigations and disciplinary provisions.
  11. Makes non-substantive changes.
Analysis

Revised administrative rules adopted by the Ohio Secretary of State pertain mostly to the mandatory education course and examination, and more specifically, to vendors of education programs. They must make sure examinations are based updates to Ohio’s Notary laws and rules and undertake to track and understand these new law changes. Furthermore, they are to be subject matter experts on Ohio’s Notary laws and rules.

Additional rules relate to the forms of identity proofing and communication technology systems that are used by Ohio Online Notaries to perform online notarial acts and to complaints filed with the Secretary of State.

Read the administrative rules by downloading the PDF below. (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Issued on March 21, 2025).

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