Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0400-01-40-.02 - DEFINITIONS

The definitions set forth in this rule apply when used in this chapter.

(1) "Acknowledgement" means a confirmation of electronic document receipt.

(2) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department of Environment and Conservation.

(3) "Copy of Record" means a true and correct copy of an electronic document received by an electronic document receiving system, which copy can be viewed in a human-readable format that clearly and accurately associates all the information provided in the electronic document with descriptions or labeling of the information. A "copy of record" includes:

(a) All electronic signatures contained in or logically associated with that document;

(b) The date and time of receipt; and

(c) Any other information used to record the meaning of the document or the circumstances of its receipt.

(4) "Department" means the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

(5) "Disinterested individual" means an individual who is not connected with the person in whose name the electronic signature device is issued. A "disinterested individual" is not any of the following:

(a) The person's employer or employer's corporate parent, subsidiary, or affiliate;

(b) The person's contracting agent;

(c) Member of the person's household; or

(d) Relative with whom the person has a personal relationship.

(6) "Electronic document" means any information in digital form that is conveyed to an agency or third-party, where "information" may include data, text, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, or databases. "Data" in this context, refers to a delimited set of data elements, each of which consists of a context or value together with an understanding of what the content or value means; where the electronic document includes data, this understanding of what the data element content or value means must be explicitly included in the electronic document itself or else be readily available to the electronic document recipient.

(7) "Electronic document receiving system" means any set of apparatus, procedures, software, records, or documentation used to receive electronic documents.

(8) "Electronic signature" means any information in digital form that is included in or logically associated with an electronic document for the purpose of expressing the same meaning and intention as would a handwritten signature if affixed to an equivalent paper document with the same reference to the same content. The electronic document bears or has on it an electronic signature where it includes or has logically associated with it such information.

(9) "Electronic signature agreement" means an agreement signed by an individual with respect to an electronic signature device that the individual will use to create his or her signatures requiring such individual to protect the electronic signature device from compromise; to promptly report to the agency or agencies relying on the electronic signatures created any evidence discovered that the device has been compromised; and to be held as legally bound, obligated, or responsible by the electronic signatures created as by a handwritten signature.

(10) "Electronic signature device" means a code or other mechanism that is used to create electronic signatures. Where the "device" is used to create an individual's electronic signature, then the code or mechanism must be unique to that individual at the time the signature is created and he or she must be uniquely entitled to use it. The "device" is compromised if the code or mechanism is available for use by any other person.

(11) "EPA" means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

(12) "Handwritten signature" means the scripted name or legal mark of an individual, handwritten by that individual with a marking or writing instrument such as a pen or stylus and executed or adopted with the present intention to authenticate a writing in a permanent form, where "a writing" means any intentional recording of words in a visual form, whether in the form of handwriting, printing, typewriting, or any other tangible form. The physical instance of the scripted name or mark so created constitutes the handwritten signature. The scripted name or legal mark, while conventionally applied to paper, may also be applied to other media.

(13) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision, or public or private organization of any character, including another agency.

(14) "Subscriber agreement" means an electronic signature agreement signed by an individual with a handwritten signature. This agreement must be stored until five (5) years after the associated electronic signature device has been deactivated.

(15) "Transmit" means to successfully and accurately convey an electronic document so that it is received by the intended recipient in a format that can be processed by the electronic document receiving system.

(16) "Valid electronic signature" means an electronic signature on an electronic document that has been created with an electronic device that the identified signatory is uniquely entitled to use for signing that document, where this device has not been compromised, and where the signatory is an individual who is authorized to sign the document by virtue of his or her legal status or his or her relationship to the entity on whose behalf the signature is executed.

Notes

Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0400-01-40-.02

Original rule filed September 28, 2015; effective 12/27/2015.

Authority: T.C.A. §§ 11-1-101, 47-10-101 et seq., and 4-5-201 et seq.