New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 9 - EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT › Subtitle N - OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES › Part 540 - Electronic Signatures And Records Act › Section 540.1 - Purpose, intent and applicability

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a)
				The purpose of this Part is to establish standards and procedures governing the
				use and authentication of electronic signatures and the utilization of
				electronic records in accordance with article III of the State Technology Law,
				which establishes the Electronic Signatures and Records Act (ESRA). ESRA
				requires the Office of Information Technology Services (ITS), as the electronic
				facilitator, to establish rules governing the use of electronic signatures and
				records. ESRA recognizes the importance of technology to the State and the need
				to build a foundation for its acceptance, implementation and use by State
				agencies, local government, the private sector and citizens. Consistent with
				legislative intent, ESRA establishes that electronic signatures and records
				have the same force and effect as signatures and records produced by
				nonelectronic means and should be utilized to facilitate both business in, as
				well as the business of, New York State.
(b) ESRA and this Part, among other things,
				ensure that persons who voluntarily elect to use electronic signatures or
				electronic records can do so with confidence that they carry the same force and
				effect as nonelectronic signatures and records. Consistent with ESRA and this
				Part, parties agreeing to engage in electronic transactions may deploy
				electronic signatures and records in a manner that meets their practices and
				needs.
(c) New technologies are
				frequently being introduced. The intent of this Part is to be flexible enough
				to embrace future technologies that comply with ESRA and all other applicable
				statutes and regulations. The electronic facilitator shall conduct periodic
				reviews of the regulations to ensure that the regulations facilitate and
				promote the use of technological advancements and address privacy and
				confidentiality issues.
(d) Neither
				ESRA nor this Part requires any person to use a document bearing an electronic
				signature. Under ESRA and this Part, the use or acceptance of electronic
				records by governmental entities is voluntary.
(e) In accordance with ESRA, the use of an
				electronic signature as defined in ESRA shall have the same validity and effect
				as the use of a signature affixed by hand. Neither ESRA, nor this Part, shall
				in whole, or in part, be construed to limit any legal rights or privileges,
				contractual or otherwise, that parties may have in the use of electronic
				signatures and records.
(f) ESRA
				and this Part are designed to, among other things, afford governmental entities
				the greatest latitude to determine the most effective protocols for producing,
				receiving, accepting, acquiring, recording, filing, transmitting, forwarding
				and storing electronic signatures and electronic records within the confines of
				existing statutory and regulatory requirements regarding privacy,
				confidentiality and records retention.
(g) This Part also establishes standards to
				implement chapter 549 of the Laws of 2011 in relation to the electronic
				recording of instruments affecting real property by recording officers in New
				York State. Chapter 549 amended ESRA to allow for the use and acceptance of
				electronic signatures and records with conveyances and other instruments
				recordable under article nine of the Real Property Law. Chapter 549 also added
				a new section 291-i to the Real Property Law, permitting, but not requiring,
				recording officers to participate in electronic recording of instruments
				affecting real property. Real Property Law section 291-i requires ITS, as the
				electronic facilitator, to promulgate rules and regulations governing the use
				and acceptance of digitized paper documents, electronic records and electronic
				signatures in the recording of instruments affecting real property. These rules
				and regulations are to prescribe standards to ensure that electronic records of
				instruments affecting real property documents a re accurate, authentic,
				adequately preserved for long-term electronic storage and resistant to
				tampering.