3.1 Copy Certifications & Strict Vital Record Prohibitions

3.1 Copy Certifications

A.C.A. § 21-14-106 authorizes a notary to certify a copy when the statutory limits are satisfied. The central idea is direct control of the copying process: the notary makes the copy or supervises the photocopying and compares the result with the original.

The permitted workflow

1. Ask to see the original document.
2. Decide whether it is a type the notary may copy-certify.
3. Make the photocopy or personally supervise its creation.
4. Compare the complete copy with the original for missing pages, cut-off text, alterations, or other differences.
5. Complete a copy-certificate statement describing the copy as true and perfect, using the actual venue and date.
6. Sign with the official signature and apply the compliant seal.

A copy that the customer made earlier does not satisfy the handbook's direction merely because the notary later performs a line-by-line comparison. The tested rule is that the notary supervises the copying or makes the copy.

Excluded records

The notary may not certify a copy of a vital record or public record. These are records for which a public custodian or issuing office supplies official certified copies. The handbook's examples include:

• birth certificates;
• death certificates;
• marriage licenses;
• divorce decrees; and
• court orders.

The practical response is to direct the requester to the appropriate records custodian, county office, court clerk, or vital-records agency. A notary-created photocopy does not become a substitute for the issuing custodian's certification.

The handbook also says a notary may not certify copies of documents issued by the U.S. Department of State or immigration authorities, but then expressly says that copies of passports and driver's licenses may be certified. For the Arkansas exam, follow the specific instruction: passports and driver's licenses are identified as permissible examples. When a receiving agency has its own rules, the requester should confirm whether it will accept a notary-certified copy.

Decision table

What the certificate means

The certificate states that the attached reproduction is a true and perfect copy of the original presented. It does not authenticate the original's legal validity. A notary comparing a diploma to its photocopy is not certifying that the school actually awarded the degree. The notary is certifying correspondence between the presented original and the copy.

The notary may keep a copy for records to help determine later whether the certified document was altered, according to the handbook. That is optional, not a command to collect sensitive identity documents. If records are retained, protect personal information and use a consistent retention policy.

Electronic and remote context

Act 1047 defines an online notarial act to include certifying or attesting a copy. Therefore, a blanket statement that Arkansas law forbids every remote copy certification is incorrect. The online notary must use an approved solution provider, follow the electronic-record and identity rules, and ensure that the act and record presented allow the notary to make the certification truthfully. The ordinary exclusions for vital and public records still matter.

Common errors

Do not copy-certify a birth certificate because it “looks authentic.” Do not let a customer describe a preexisting copy as accurate while the original remains elsewhere. Do not use copy certification to certify a translation, the truth of a document's contents, or a person's legal status. Those are different statements from certifying that a reproduction matches the original shown.

If any page, attachment, seal impression, or reverse-side text is missing from the reproduction, make a new complete copy. A notary should not label a partial excerpt “true and perfect” without certificate wording that accurately limits what was compared and without confirmation that the recipient accepts that form.

Source anchor: Arkansas Secretary of State, Arkansas Notary Public Handbook (rev. 1-2025), “Photocopies”; A.C.A. § 21-14-106; Act 1047 of 2021, definition of “online notarial act.”