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The Legislative Service Commission staff updates the Revised Code on an ongoing basis, as it completes its act review of enacted legislation. Updates may be slower during some times of the year, depending on the volume of enacted legislation.

Chapter 304 | Electronic Records and Signatures

 
 
 
Section
Section 304.01 | Definitions.
 

As used in this chapter:

(A) "Agreement" means the bargain of the parties in fact, as found in their language or inferred from other circumstances and from rules, regulations, and procedures given the effect of agreements under laws otherwise applicable to a particular transaction.

(B) "County office" means any officer, department, board, commission, agency, court, or other instrumentality of a county.

(C) "Electronic" means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.

(D) "Electronic record" means a record created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored by electronic means.

(E) "Electronic signature" means an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.

(F) "Information" means data, text, images, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, databases, or the like.

(G) "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, governmental agency, public corporation, or other legal or commercial entity.

(H) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(I) "Transaction" means an action or set of actions occurring between two or more persons relating to the conduct of business, commercial, or governmental affairs.

Section 304.02 | County office to adopt security procedure prior to use.
 

Prior to the use of electronic records and electronic signatures by a county office under Chapter 1306. of the Revised Code, and except as otherwise provided in section 955.013 of the Revised Code, a county office shall adopt, in writing, a security procedure for the purpose of verifying that an electronic signature, record, or performance is that of a specific person or for detecting changes or errors in the information in an electronic record. A security procedure includes, but is not limited to, a procedure that requires the use of algorithms or other codes, identifying words or numbers, encryption, or callback or other acknowledgment procedures.

Section 304.03 | Authorized electronic filing to have same effect as paper filing.
 

(A) Whenever any rule or law requires or authorizes the filing of any information, notice, lien, or other document or record with any county office, a filing made by an electronic record shall have the same force and effect as a filing made on paper in all cases where the county office has authorized or agreed to the electronic filing and the filing is made in accordance with applicable rules or an applicable agreement.

(B) Nothing in this section authorizes or shall be construed to authorize the use of a financial transaction device in an electronic transaction for the acceptance of payments for county expenses, except pursuant to section 301.28 or 955.013 of the Revised Code.

(C) As used in this section, "financial transaction device" and "county expenses" have the same meanings as in section 301.28 of the Revised Code.

Section 304.04 | Use not required.
 

Nothing in this chapter or Chapter 1306. of the Revised Code requires or shall be construed to require any county office to use or permit the use of electronic records and electronic signatures.