are authorized by Florida law to verify a vehicle identification number and certify this fact to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles when that vehicle has not previously been registered with the state. A notary public may supervise the copying (or printing, as the case may be) of any record and attest to the trueness of the resulting copy or printout. The record being copied (or printed) cannot be a vital record, nor can it be a public record (if a copy can be obtained from the custodian of the public record). The most rare of notarial duties in Florida is the drafting of protests, i.e. certificates of dishonor, which certify that payment on a negotiable instrument has been refused. This is an antiquated act that appears only one place in the Florida statutes. Commission requirements Any individual at least 18 years of age who is a resident of Florida may apply for and obtain commission as a notary public, provided that they have obtained a $7,500.00 public bond from an insurance company, and taken a notary education course administered by an authorized course provider. Such commission is usually obtained by legal secretaries, paralegals, and attorneys for use in their place of work, where the notarization of client signatures is a requirement on many court pleadings and other documents. However, occupation in the legal profession is not a prerequisite to becoming a notary, and a person of any profession may apply for and obtain a commission. Many banks also have notaries on staff to notarize the signatures of their customers. Seal requirements A notary seal of the rubber stamp type is required to be affixed to all notarized paper documents. The rubber stamp must include the commissioned name of the notary public, the words "Notary Public-State of Florida", the notary's commission number, and the date on which the notary's commission expires. Prior to the mid-1970s, the only statutory requirement regarding notarial seals was that one be used and that it include the words "Notary Public" and "State of Florida at Large"; the name of the notary was optional, and the law did not specify what types of seals were permissible. This law was later amended to state that the seal must be round in design and of either the rubber stamp or impression type. In the early 1990s, the statute was again changed to require a rubber stamp