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Understanding Our Document Retention Policy at Walk-In Notary

We want to provide insight into why and how we manage the documents you entrust to us. Our commitment to confidentiality, security, and compliance is unwavering. In fact, we do not disclose or share any of your personal information, with third parties, without your written consent or as required by law. Here’s an expanded look into our practices.

Point 1: Compliance with Privacy Laws

At Walk-In Notary, adherence to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and other privacy laws is paramount. We retain personal documents strictly for the duration necessary to fulfill the intended purposes, ensuring both your privacy and our legal compliance.

Point 2: Specific Retention Periods

We recognize the unique importance of each document. Accordingly, our retention periods are carefully determined based on the document’s nature and purpose, balancing efficient management and responsible stewardship of your documents. We retain documents for only as long as is required according to Industry best practices.

Point 3: Minimizing Data Breach Risks

Your security is our top concern. To minimize the risk of data breaches, we define precise retention periods and ensure secure disposal of documents thereafter, protecting your sensitive information from unauthorized access.

Point 4: Purpose of Document Retention

1. Internal Auditing: An essential part of our retention policy is to facilitate internal auditing. This enables us to review our notaries’ work, ensuring that all documents are notarized correctly and standards are consistently met.
2. Prevention of Fraud: By retaining scanned copies of notarized documents, we provide a safeguard against fraud. If there’s ever a dispute or suspicion that a document has been altered after notarization, our records can serve as a valuable reference point, effectively timestamping the original document.
3. Compliance with Law Society of Ontario (LSO) Requirements: The LSO governance lawyers and requires that all lawyers, including those acting solely in their capacity as Notaries Public, retain a copy of client identification and any other documents that may be relevant to the notarization process. As Notaries, we are required to satisfy ourselves as to the identity of the signing party. Reviewing Identity documents allows us to satisfy this requirement. By retaining the scanned copies of the IDs, we are providing evidence of the identity validation process which we undergo with each notarization.

Point 5: No Guaranteed Retention Timeframe

It’s important to note that while we strive to maintain records for as long as they are needed for the purposes outlined, we do not guarantee a minimum or maximum retention period for any document. Our policy is designed to be flexible and responsive to various factors, including legal requirements and operational needs.

Point 6: Regular Policy Review and Updates

We’re committed to keeping our policies up-to-date with the latest legal and industry standards. Regular reviews and updates to our document retention practices help us maintain this commitment.

Point 7: Transparent Communication with Clients

We believe in open communication with our clients about our retention policies, including the reasons for retaining documents and our methods for secure disposal once their retention period is over. It is for this reason that all of our clients complete and sign an acknowledgement form explaining, among other things, that we are keeping a record of the client’s documents.

Point 8: Secure Disposal of Documents

Ensuring the secure disposal of documents after their retention period ends is a critical aspect of our policy. We use industry-standard methods like shredding and data wiping to irreversibly destroy documents, safeguarding your privacy.

Conclusion

Our document retention policy at Walk-In Notary is a cornerstone of our commitment to you. Balancing the need for document security while in our care with the necessity of protecting your privacy, we handle your documents with the utmost responsibility and care. Should you have any questions about our policy or how it applies to your specific documents, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Your trust and security are, as always, our top priorities!