(a) For purposes of this section, the term "certificate"
refers to uniform certificates of course completion issued by the
department to driving safety providers in paper format, and certificate
numbers issued to driving safety providers for inclusion on department-approved
driving safety course certificate completion forms.
(b) Driving safety provider responsibilities. Providers
are responsible for original and duplicate certificates in accordance
with this subsection. Each driving safety provider must:
(1) submit a plan for the electronic issuance of certificates
for approval by the department prior to its implementation;
(2) issue certificates that comply with the design
specifications approved by the department;
(3) develop and maintain a department-approved method
for securing, issuing, and maintaining original and duplicate certificates
that, to the greatest extent possible, prevents the unauthorized production
or misuse of the certificates, and allows for the recovery of lost
data (electronic or otherwise) for such certificates;
(4) issue certificates only to students who have successfully
completed all elements of the provider's approved driving safety course;
(5) maintain secure files (electronic or otherwise)
with data pertaining to all certificates purchased from the department,
and must make available to the department, upon request, an ascending
numerical accounting record of the numbered certificates issued;
(6) issue all original and duplicate certificates using
first-class or enhanced postage, equivalent commercial delivery method,
or a department-approved electronic issuance method;
(7) sequentially number original certificates from
the block of numbers purchased from the department;
(8) use certificates only for the course for which
the certificates were ordered from the department;
(9) implement and maintain methods for efficiently
issuing original certificates so that issuance of duplicate certificates
is kept at a minimal rate;
(10) report all unaccounted original and duplicate
certificates or unissued certificates or duplicates to the department
within 15 business days of the discovery of the incident;
(11) conduct an investigation to determine the circumstances
surrounding the unaccounted items noted in paragraph (10), and submit
a report of the findings of the investigation, including preventative
measures for recurrence, to the department within thirty (30) days
of the discovery; and
(12) report original and duplicate certificate data,
by secure electronic transmission, to the department within five (5)
days of issuance using guidelines established and provided by the
department. The issue date indicated on the certificate shall be the
date the provider issues the certificate to the student.
(c) Disposition of original or duplicate certificates.
(1) The provider's records, including unissued or unnumbered
original and duplicate certificates, must be available for review
by representatives of the department.
(2) A driver safety provider must not issue, transfer,
or transmit an original or duplicate certificate bearing the serial
number of a certificate or duplicate previously issued.
(3) Each unaccounted, missing, blank, or unissued original
or duplicate certificate may be considered a separate violation. This
may include a lost, stolen, or otherwise unaccounted original or duplicate
certificate.
(4) When a duplicate certificate is issued by a provider,
the duplicate certificate shall bear a serial number from the block
of numbers purchased from the department by the provider. The duplicate
certificate must clearly indicate the number of both the duplicate
and the original serial number of the certificate being replaced.
(5) Any item on a duplicate certificate that has different
data than that shown on the original certificate must clearly indicate
both the original data and the replacement data; for example, a change
in the date of course completion must show the correct date and "changed
from XX," where "XX" is the date shown on the original certificate.
(6) If the student requests a duplicate certificate
within thirty (30) days of the date of issue of the original certificate
because the original was not received, unusable, or was issued with
errors due to no fault of the student, the provider must issue the
duplicate at no cost to the student. Driving safety providers must
include this information in the student enrollment contract.
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