2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 17e - Local Filing Offices; Former Article 9 Uniform Commercial Code Records; Revised Article 9 Records

Section 17E. (a) In this section the following words shall have the following meanings:
(1) ''Former Article 9'', Article 9 of chapter 106 as in effect on June 30, 2001.
(2) ''Revised Article 9'', Article 9 of said chapter 106 as in effect on or after July 1, 2001.
(3) ''Local filing office'', a filing office, other than the office of the state secretary, that is designated as the proper place to file a financing statement under Section 9–401(1) of former Article 9. The term applies only with respect to a record that covers a type of collateral as to which the filing office is designated in that section as the proper place to file.
(4) ''Former Article 9 records'':
(A) financing statements and other records that have been filed in a local filing office before July 1, 2001, and that are, or upon processing and indexing will be, reflected in the index maintained, as of June 30, 2001, by the local filing office for financing statements and other records filed in the local filing office before July 1, 2001, and
(B) the index as of June 30, 2001.
The term shall not include records presented to a local filing office for filing after June 30, 2001, whether or not the records relate to financing statements filed in the local filing office before July 1, 2001.
(5) ''Mortgage'', ''as-extracted collateral'', ''fixture filing'', ''goods'' and ''fixtures'' have the meanings set forth in revised Article 9 for those terms.
(b) A local filing office shall not accept for filing a record presented after June 30, 2001, whether or not the record relates to a financing statement filed in the local filing office before July 1, 2001.
(c) Until July 1, 2008, each local filing office shall maintain all former Article 9 records in accordance with former Article 9. A former Article 9 record that is not reflected on the index maintained at June 30, 2001, by the local filing office shall be processed and indexed, and reflected on the index as of June 30, 2001, as soon as practicable but in any event no later than July 30, 2001.
(d) Until at least June 30, 2008, each local filing office shall respond to requests for information with respect to former Article 9 records relating to a debtor and issue certificates, in accordance with former Article 9. The fees charged for responding to requests for information relating to a debtor and issuing certificates with respect to former Article 9 records shall be the fees in effect under former Article 9 on June 30, 2001, unless a different fee is later set by the local filing office, but the different fee shall not exceed $20 for responding to a request for information relating to a debtor or $20 for issuing a certificate.
(e) After June 30, 2008, each local filing office may remove and destroy, in accordance with any then applicable record retention law of the commonwealth, all former Article 9 records, including the related index.
(f) This section shall not apply, with respect to financing statements and other records, to a filing office in which mortgages or records of mortgages on real property are required to be filed or recorded, if:
(1) the collateral is timber to be cut or as-extracted collateral, or
(2) the record is or relates to a financing statement filed as a fixture filing and the collateral is goods that are or are to become fixtures.