Are remote online notary and commissioning services legal and valid across Canada and globally?
Key Takeaways
- Online commissioning is legal and permitted under Ontario Regulation 431/20, and supported by the Electronic Commerce Act.
- Whether a virtually commissioned or electronically signed document is valid depends on a recipient’s willingness to accept e-signatures and the applicable provincial or state laws.
- Provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia have laws that allow electronic signatures.
- NotaryPro relies on advanced identity verification, encryption, audit trails and authenticity statements to ensure the e-signature is secure and trustworthy.
- NotaryPro clients should confirm if an intended recipient accepts electronically signed documents before booking to prevent issues.
- whether the recipient of your document will accept an electronically signed (“e-signed”) document, and
- what the provincial laws state regarding electronic signatures.
Changing Laws for E-Signatures & Virtual Commissioning
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, provincial laws across Canada have rapidly changed since March 2020. For example:
- In Ontario, the Electronic Commerce Act establishes that electronic signatures are valid as a form of signature
- British Columbia permits e-signatures under the BC Electronic Transactions Act.
- As of August 2020, the Ontario Government introduced Ontario Regulation 431/20 to permit the remote administration of an oath through real time electronic communication (i.e. using a video call to swear the truth of a document before a commissioner of oaths). This process is called virtual commissioning, though many people commonly refer to it as ‘online notary’.
Electronic signatures and virtual commissioning is now permitted in Ontario, and NotaryPro is leading the country in providing this innovative service, right from the comfort of your home.
These recent amendments mean that Ontario notaries can provide virtual notary services for clients anywhere in the world. This is because the seal of an Ontario notary public is accepted across Canada and almost anywhere around the globe.
To date, as Canada’s first remote online notary service, NotaryPro has successfully provided digital notary services to clients across Canada securely, without issue.
Is it secure? Yes. But how?
NotaryPro’s robust security and identity verification protocols provide a high level of assurance to the recipient of your document, by confirming that your electronic signature is as authentic as one ‘wet’ signed with a real pen.
Every day, more and more institutions across the country receive, accept and trust NotaryPro’s high level of security, which includes: an encrypted signature seal, end-to-end digital document history and audit trail, and statement of of authenticity.
Who provides digital notary services?
Our professionally trained notaries (all licensed lawyers) stand behind these technical security requirements with expert customer service and attention to detail.
One last thought
The ultimate question becomes: will the recipient of your document accept an electronic signature?
When booking an appointment with NotaryPro, we ask all clients to confirm that they have checked that the recipient of their document will accept an e-signed copy. This verification checkpoint is our way of recognizing that e-signatures are still a new and sometimes uncertain service for many Canadians.
We want you to have comfort before paying for any service with us, and we ask clients to first check on the acceptance of e-signatures before we e-sign.